TIA/EIA-568-C attempts to define structured cabling standards

TIA/EIA-568-C attempts to define structured cabling standards that will enable the design and implementation of structured cabling systems for commercial buildings, and between buildings in campus environments. The bulk of the standards define cabling types, distances, connectors, cable system architectures, cable termination standards and performance characteristics, cable installation requirements and methods of testing installed cable.

The main standard, TIA/EIA-568-C.1 defines general requirements, while -568-C.2 focuses on components of balanced twisted-pair cable systems and -568-C.3 addresses components of fiber optic cable systems, -568-C.4, which addressed coaxial cabling components.

The intent of these standards is to provide recommended practices for the design and installation of cabling systems that will support a wide variety of existing and future services. Developers hope the standards will provide a lifespan for commercial cabling systems in excess of ten years. This effort has been largely successful, as evidenced by the definition of category 5 cabling in 1991, a cabling standard that (mostly) satisfied cabling requirements for 1000BASE-T, released in 1999. Thus, the standardization process can reasonably be said to have provided at least a nine-year lifespan for premises cabling, and arguably a longer one.

All these documents accompany related standards that define commercial pathways and spaces (TIA-569-A), residential cabling (TIA-570-A), administration standards (606), grounding and bonding (TIA-607), and outside plant cabling (TIA-758).

November 29, 2011

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