Structured Cabling
Structured Cabling (or wiring) is a preplanned cabling system that is designed with growth and reconfiguration in mind. Structured wiring forms an infrastructure that is usually hierarchical in design with high-speed backbones or interconnects.. The hub and switches are at the top of the hierarchy, while the departmental or workgroup hubs and switches connect to these. Then entire system may connect to a data center. The design and implementation of this entire system is crucial to your communications system. Much thought and preplanning must be taken into account before beginning your wiring, so that your job can be handled in the most cost-effective manner.
The Backbone of Communication Infrastructure
Fiber Optics and Voice Over IP
Fiber Optics
Fiber-optic cable guides light from one end to the other end. A signal is injected in one end by an LED (light-emitting diode) or by semiconductor lasers. LEDs can generate signals up to about 300 Mbits/sec. Lasers can generate signals in the multi-gigabit/sec range. LEDs are used for short-distance optical links such as enterprise backbones while lasers are used for longer distance networks. Lasers are also capable of the higher power levels needed for long-haul backbone links.
Voice Over IP
In just a few years, the old circuit-switched voice-centric communications network will give way to a data-centric, packet-oriented network that seamlessly supports data, voice, and video with a high quality of service. While phone calls on the Internet rarely achieve the level of quality of circuit-switched calls, the quality is improving; the connection is often as good as or better than cellular, which is prone to packet errors and distortion due to its wireless nature. The market has found that many customers will tolerate a small decrease in the quality of the call for the significantly reduced cost of an IP telephone call.
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