We announced in last week’s post that Blue Ridge Tech is now offering low-voltage and structured cabling service! We’re excited about adding another way to serve our customers well, so we’re devoting a few blog posts to this important topic.
This week is all about structured cabling: What it is, how it works, and why your business should care about it.
What Is Structured Cabling?
Put simply: structured cabling is a standardized, organized way of running cables and wires through a building. Even in modern offices where everyone’s phones and laptops are running on wireless, you’ll still find quite a bit of cabling behind the scenes, handling data, voice, and video. All those Wi-Fi antennas, networking equipment, phones (including VoIP phones), and other hardware like on-premises servers—they’re all connected by cabling. When a business sets up a building with structured cabling, the cable routing and layout follows consistent principles and is clearly labeled.
In contrast, when businesses don’t plan out how they will run their cabling, it can get pretty chaotic. Picture a ball of colorful plastic spaghetti and you won’t be all that far off from what you’ll find in the drop ceiling of your average office building!
What Are the Components of Structured Cabling?
First are the cables, of course: these will be mostly or all network cables. Cat 5e, Cat 6, Cat 6a, and Cat 8 cables all look virtually identical and operate using the same connections (called RJ45 connectors — they look like a fat phone jack). The differences between these cables have to do with speed, bandwidth, and frequency.
Any new cabling project should evaluate your performance requirements before selecting a type of network cable.
In a structured cabling setup, these cables run between devices and patch panels, which enable businesses to run less point-to-point cabling. Essentially, everything (or a group of devices) runs to a patch panel, which handles the interconnections between those devices and the rest of the network.
Why Structured Cabling Matters to Your Business
On the surface, structured cabling doesn’t look like it adds much in terms of functionality. Is it just a glorified cleanup or organizational project?
While structured cabling certainly is cleaner and more organized, it’s much more than that. Consider these benefits and strategic advantages that structured cabling supports or creates.
Better Performance
First up is raw performance: when all network devices are connected optimally, your overall network performance improves.
Easier Troubleshooting and Repairs
By far the biggest danger of the “ball of spaghetti” school of cable management is what happens when something breaks. That disorganized jumble of cables is just hanging out in the ceiling not bothering anybody—but once something goes wrong, all of the sudden you need to know how to navigate through the mess.
With structured cabling, it’s far easier to identify where the problem is occurring. And fixing the problem could be as easy as swapping out a single, clearly labeled cable.
More Professionalism and Polish
An ugly network can also reflect on your company’s overall professionalism, making customers and employees alike wonder what else is disorganized or poorly implemented. Structured cabling looks polished and sharp.
More Prepared for Future Growth
Finally, structured cabling systems are inherently scalable, setting you up for easier future growth. Adding more endpoints? You already have space and know exactly where to connect them. Need more capacity or interconnectivity? Just add another patch panel.
Planning a New Space or Renovation? Talk to Us First
If you’re planning a move into a new space, a renovation, or a network overhaul, talk to us about structured cabling and wiring first. We’ll help you get your new space set up properly from the start. Connect Now