Today's Structured Cabling Decisions Determine Tomorrow's Business Capabilities

Today's businesses require advanced information technology to maintain a competitive advantage. The ability to network, or share information, has made the PC as important as the telephone. inTRUST Technologies recognizes the influence this has on businesses and can get you up to speed. As technology continues to evolve, your corporate network must support voice, data, video and multimedia applications. Rapid increases in processing power, the growing size of networks and the introduction of higher-speed access methods create an overwhelming need for reliable, manageable, structured cabling systems. Yesterday's Ethernet and Token Ring networks will soon be replaced by today's 100/1000BASE-TX and ATM switched networks - and tomorrow's 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fiber Channel and ATM technologies.

At the same time, a successful enterprise demands both teamwork and flexible. Organizations face constant change requiring the movement or relocation of people, their workspaces and the services provided to them. As many as 18 percent of employees move within a building every year. Designed to accommodate frequent moves, adds and changes, a structured cabling system is the foundation of the modern information network. Through all the changes and challenges that confront your business, a structured cabling system can alleviate the workflow disruption and network downtime associated with office restructuring. No other component in your network has a longer life cycle or requires such close consideration. Careful planning will prevent the congestion that can dramatically diminish your network performance.

High-End Cabling

Over the past several years, the cabling industry has established standards, including the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard, to standardize material choices and installation practices. These standards create an "open" architecture that can be used by any application or access method, ensuring consistent system performance, especially when mixing components from different manufacturers.

Deploy the new network

New network infrastructure is configured and pre-deployed in parallel and without impact to the existing network whenever possible. Network downtime required for physical transition are kept to a minimum, allowing sufficient time to implement contingency plans if necessary.

New LAN Technologies

In addition to advanced cabling products, the market develops new architecture for the ever-changing workplace. Zone cabling with copper or fiber optics simplifies office restructuring by reducing both installation time and material costs. A hybrid version of this architecture using both high-performance fiber optics and low-cost copper-based electronics, creates a migration path for implementing Fiber-to-the-Desk (FTTD). An investment in quality components that exceed the minimum standards will ensure your network performs at its intended level and will function under all of your operating conditions. It also provides the capacity to accommodate future applications. Extending the life span of your information system is worth the modest investment in a high-end structured cabling system.

Cabling Administration

One challenge to maintain a complex network is following the rigorous cross-reference methods required by the TIA/EIA-606 Cabling Administration Standard. Effective management of your structured cabling infrastructure is made possible by infrastructure modeling and cable management software. These management systems combine the power of databases with graphics capabilities of a computer-aided design application (CAD). Customized programs incorporate user-friendly features to organize moves, adds and changes for optimum network capacity.