Today, every office environment requires some type of voice and data system in order to function at peak efficiency. The particulars of the system will vary, based on the current and projected needs of the client. When evaluating different voice and data elements for your system, it is important to begin with the basics and then identify additional functions that will be used at least periodically. At the same time, it is important to think beyond today and make sure your system has the capability to expand as the business grows or changes in some manner.

Setting Up the Backbone

Whether the project involves establishing a voice and data structure for a single location or a series of interconnected locations, it is important to begin with the basics. The process will begin with the wiring at each of the locations involved in the network. If your company is building the facility from the ground up, then you will want to prewire the office. When doing so, make sure that the structured cabling wiring will support typical voice communications like basic telephony. You also want to ensure that the low-voltage wiring can support advanced data communications that is capable of supplying bandwidth for everything from a robust Internet connection of some type to high speed transfer into, out of and within your network. Most structured cabling systems use category 5 cable for the entire system. These systems are often installed by the interconnect who provides the telephony system or a contractors who specialize only in structured cabling systems. Providers who specialize in the development of structured cabling solutions can evaluate the scope of your office environment and come up with a wiring plan that will easily serve your needs today. Make sure to obtain suggestions from a couple of different sub-contractors before choosing one to manage the wiring process. This strategy provides the benefit of getting more than one perspective and possibly identifying a very helpful function that you had not considered in the past. Additionally, you will want to get at least three cabling quotes or RFP’s from three different structured cabling sub-contractors. This goes for the telephony or VOIP system as well. You will want to get at least three quotes or bids from each interconnect that you interview.

Addressing the Voice Component

Options for voice communications are considerably more varied than in decades past. Once upon a time, the company would purchase a private branch exchange or PBX to manage inbound and outbound calls. The PBX would physically reside at the office location and allow for both manual intervention and automated options for routing calls to open extensions, voice mail boxes and other options. A single line would connect the PBX with a public switched telephone network and allow inbound calls to be routed to different trunks or trunk groups found in the internal voice system. Today, there is also the option of going with a virtual PBX. This solution offers all the same benefits but allows them to be managed in a virtual environment as long as you have an appropriately designed and installed structured cable wiring netwokr. Using a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection, the functions are managed remotely. One benefit of this option is that if your office is damaged due to a natural disaster, you can make a few changes to the virtual PBX and have your employees work remotely. You can also go with a hybrid system that involves a combination of the traditional and virtual PBX structure. This gives you the best of both worlds and also helps to create an element of redundancy with your voice communications. Should one component be inoperable for a period of time, the remaining component can easily take on the call traffic. That translates to no downtime for your daily office functions. With any type of PBX, you want to make sure the configuration includes several basics. The system must support enough trunks to allow extensions for each workstation in the office. You also want additional trunks that can be called upon for conducting audio conferences that include locations outside your network. Don’t forget to allow for functions such as call waiting, call parking, voice mail, internal paging and other features that will make life around the office a lot easier.

Considering the Data Component

Designing the data system for the office calls for identifying the right type of hardware and software to drive the needs of your individual business. Keep in mind that while a doctor’s office will function somewhat differently from an attorney’s office, both will require a few basic elements as part of the design. Ideally, you want the data system to support all clerical, administrative and accounting processes with ease. The selection of hardware is extremely important for any data system. The data must be housed in a server that is protected with adequate security measures. The software used to drive that server should allow a master user to assign specific credentials to each user of the network. The idea is to make sure employees can add to, correct and access the data they need to do their jobs, but are still unable to reach proprietary data that is not associated with their standard and usual job tasks. The server should be able to house large amounts of data without experiencing any type of slow response during peak working hours. Depending on your business model, there may be a need to allow remote access to the server. For example, sales people may want to be able to link with the main sales database while on the road. This allows them the option of updating customer profiles or placing orders for clients in a real time manner. The software used to configure the server will make it possible for remote access to occur while still protecting the integrity of your data. Keep in mind that network redundancy is also important with the voice component. To this end, consider either installing a backup server or possibly using a virtual server. In the event a problem occurs with the primary server, the network should automatically switch to the backup source. Don’t forget to configure the connection between the servers so that new data added to the primary server also updates on the secondary server on a regular basis. That update may occur every hour if your office processes a lot of information. Many smaller offices will find that updates occurring nightly will be sufficient. By creating an adequate schedule of updates, the loss of data due to a hardware failure is kept to a minimum.

Planning for the Future

Many company owners make the mistake of thinking about the here and now when putting together a voice and data system. While immediate needs must be met, also plan for what you will need a year, two years and possibly even five years from now. Ideally, you want hardware that can be modified and expanded when and as necessary. You also want software solutions that will aid in keeping up with the demands of a growing business. As part of the support with the structured cabling plan, a competent provider can make suggestions of how to ensure your network has this type of built in flexibility. Including at least some of those ideas will save a significant amount of money and time in the years to come.

Are you debating over whether you should be frugal and install Cat 5 Ethernet cabling, upgrading to the faster Cat 5e, or investing in the gigabit certified Cat 6 for your home, commercial office network, or data center? Structured cabling contractors install voice and data cabling systems and understand the level of performance that can be expected from Cat 5, Cat5e, Cat 5E, and Cat 6 cable. Today we’re taking a closer look at all three of these options and breaking down their functions and features to better help you make your decision. 

When faced with the option of deciding what type of network cabling to install for your network, a networking novice might not have an understanding as to what the differences are between the three similarly sounding Ethernet cables. While it is important to understand your choices, we strongly recommend consulting a network cabling contractor before making a final decision.

To get to the root of the problem we need to define exactly what each version of the Ethernet cabling has been designed to do.

Cat 5 

The most basic type of network cable is Cat 5 and it comes in two varieties. SCTP or Screened Twisted Pair which is mostly used in Europe and UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pair which is what is commonly used in the United States. The difference between the two is that SCTP has an extra layer of shielding to protect from interference.

Cat 5 voice and data cable comes in either a solid or stranded version with the solid being stiffer and better for transmitting over a long distance, while stranded Cat 5 cable is bendable and used for standard patch cable. Cat 5 cable can support up to 100 Mbps of Ethernet and for up to 100 meters or 328 feet.

Cat 5e

The biggest difference between Cat 5 cable and Cat 5e cable or Category 5 enhanced cable is that Cat 5 cable achieves a greater standard of data transmission. This is why structured cabling contractors have all but replaced Cat 5 cable with Category 5e in all new voice and data cable installations.

Cat 5e cable can handle data transfers up to 1000 Mbps which makes it suitable for Gigabit Ethernet. In addition, Cat 5e cable was designed to have a better resistance to near-end crosstalk or interference.

Cat 6

The most advanced cable of the three is Category 6. As the numbering entails Cat 6 calbe is the latest and best performing version of structured cabling available.

Category 6 network cables are made up of four twisted sets of copper wire and its abilities surpass the other two types of data cabling because Cat 6 cable has a structural difference in its longitudinal separator. In plain English this separator insulates each of the pairs of wire from one another, which in turn decreases possible crosstalk permits faster data transfers. Another advantage this gives Category 6 cable is that it now has double the bandwidth of regular Cat 5 cable.

Cat 6 cable supports up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet for up to about 37 meters or 121 feet. Now, not to make it any more confusing there is a Cat 6a version available that addresses the limit of distance and is certified for up to 100 meters or 328 feet.

Now that we have a better understanding of what each of the three cable types were designed handle, we can now begin to answer the question of which one you should be using for your structured wiring needs..

First, when trying to decide either Cat 5 cable or Cat 5e cable, the smart choice is to go with the latter. The fact that Cat 5e cable is rated at 350 MHz compared to Cat 5 cable which is only rated at 100 MHz is one selling point. Another is that Cat 5e cable will support Gigabit Ethernet and is not only backwards compatible but with the advancements in reducing the loss of signal from “bleeding” makes it hands down the better cable.

Now when deciding whether to upgrade from Cat 5e cable to Cat 6 cable there are some other factors to take into consideration. For example, are all your components rated to supports Gigabit Ethernet? If not, then you won’t be achieving true gigabit speeds and might as well just go with the Cat 5e. Unless you plan to upgrade your components in the future then Cat 6 cable will provide a better infrastructure for these planned upgrades.

In addition, while Cat 5e cable can support gigabit speeds only Cat 6 cable is certified to handle speeds up to 10 Gigabits. However, unless you’re in an environment that has a server with a tremendous amount of data constantly being transferred between machines then an upgrade to Cat 6 structured cabling might not be necessary.

It should be noted that CAT 6 has more twists per inch than Cat 5e and these “twists” in each pair of copper line allows any crosstalk to be cancelled out by the cables partner. In addition, the upgraded copper process used in creating Cat 6 cable has been designed to produce fewer impurities which make for enhanced conductivity.

Which category of voice and data cable are you using and if it needs to be upgraded will you go with Cat 5e or Cat 6?

Structured cabling contractors have the experience and knowledge to guide you when you have questions or concerns regarding the installation, upgrade, or expansion of your voice and data network.