Get to Know our Latest Service Offering
At Blue Ridge Technology, Inc., we’ve been serving customers for years as a high-quality managed IT service provider in the greater Asheville and Hendersonville, North Carolina, area. And now we’re excited to announce a new service type: low-voltage wiring and structured cabling.
Why Wiring and Cabling?
Put simply: because there’s a need. Businesses need a better approach, one that we’re already well equipped to provide.
Throughout our history as an MSP, we’ve worked in, with, and around all sorts of physical environments, from new-build offices to facilities at every stage of age and renovation.
And in all of that work, when it comes to wiring and cabling, well: we’ve seen some things. DIY setups, patchwork Frankensystems with parts and pieces bolted on, mislabeled and unlabeled tangles of wires—you get the idea. These systems can limit a business’s ability to do what it needs to do, and they certainly limit or hamper efficient growth.
Isn’t the World Wireless? Why Cabling Still Matters
“Out of sight, out of mind” has never been truer than in business IT and infrastructure. We tend to work in refined spaces, with infrastructure hidden behind walls, under panels, and in ceilings and floors. Our everyday experience is primarily a wireless one, which is why it can seem hard to care all that much about wiring.
But here’s the thing: for that wireless experience to work, you need a whole lot of infrastructure behind the scenes — including a whole lot of wiring and cabling. Wires and cables are still the backbone of your business’s network. They’re key parts of what makes the Wi-Fi work.
Still, all that wiring and cabling is hidden away. What’s going on behind the scenes is pretty important. But often, it isn’t pretty.
Here’s where structured cabling and low-voltage wiring can help.
Structured Cabling Defined
Structured cabling is a method of running cables through a building in an organized, methodical fashion. These cables are primarily for data; in some cases businesses need separate cabling for voice and video systems, but in a typical office environment these functions are increasingly handled via data.
In a structured cabling build, network cables (Cat 5e, Cat 6, and/or Cat 7 cables) run bundled neatly together, organized logically thanks to patch panels and other network equipment. Each cable is labeled, documented, and diagrammed so that IT can find what they need quickly and accurately.
Structured cabling brings a level of predictability to your network infrastructure so your system is easier to understand, organize, and work on. But perhaps the biggest advantage of structured cabling is growth: when your backend infrastructure is neatly organized, you’ll have a much easier time upgrading specific hardware components or expanding your system.
Downtime will be shorter as well because it’s easier to pinpoint the cause and to actually find the hardware or cabling that needs to be fixed.
Low-Voltage Wiring Defined
Many technology systems don’t rely on traditional electrical power, like being hardwired to a line/breaker or being plugged into a wall receptacle. Physical security devices, VoIP phones, thermostats and HVAC controls, audio systems, and some network/IT hardware (among others) run on power delivered over cables and wires delivering lower voltage.
Low-voltage is safe and power-efficient, and it eliminates the need to run additional full-voltage cabling. Still, those wires have to be run (and run properly).
Why Your Business Needs to Consider Low Voltage and Structured Cabling
Low-voltage and structured cabling aren’t just nice to have; they deliver real benefits:
- Faster speeds
- Better reliability
- Future-proof
- Scalable
- Easier to fix
Is your business considering a renovation or new build? Let us help you get wiring and cabling right the first time. Reach out today.