Future-Proofing Your Campus Network

Abstract

Structured cabling is an asset that should outlive several generations of computing and data communications equipment. By adopting the EIA/TIA 586 Structured Cabling Standard, colleges and universities can maintain maximum reliability for the present and flexibility for the future. EIA/TIA 586 describes how to design a structured cabling system for the campus that builds for the future without abandoning the legacy cabling. Using EIA/TIA 586, attendees will have tools to oversee the design and installation of a communication system that will meet their data, voice and video networking needs for 15 or more years. Principal objectives:1. Understanding the benefits of adopting a structured cabling system.2. Laying out a system that uses legacy coax, STP, UTP, multimode and single mode fiber.3. Estimating fiber and pair counts for the decade.4. Communicating video over legacy coax, STP, UTP, multimode fiber and single mode fiber.Although structured cabling accounts for less than 10% of the costs of a campus data network, it can cause more than half of availability problems. The paper considers the economic balance of lower installation costs vs. higher system availability. One strategy for installing infrastructure involves pulling in only those circuits and runs required today; another is to install all the cabling that could be used over the next decade in one installation. The presentation uses a discounted cash flow model for evaluating the install cabling now vs. delaying question. The presentation will discuss coax evaluation and criteria for determining which legacy coax systems to maintain and which to abandon. Paper presented at CAUSE94, the full proceedings of which are available through this Library as PUB1094.