Connected homes | Archive Titles

Structured cabling: Glossary of terms
62.5/125 micron	The common size of fibre optic cables
Attenuation	Loss of signal strength and integrity over a given length of cable
Balun	Balanced – unbalanced impedance matching connector. Connects balanced and un-balanced network cables together.
Bandwidth	The capacity of a medium to carry data bits. Measured in Hz
bps	Bits per second
CAT5	100 Mhz Category 5 data cabling as specified by the EIA/TIA standards authority
CAT5 E	Enhanced Cat 5 data cabling with more stringent tests and headroom. Still 100Mhz
Category 6,Cat6	Proposed cabling standard to support up to 250 Mhz over UTP. Not yet ratified.
Category 7, Cat7	Proposed cabling standard to support up to 600 Mhz over UTP.
Drop	Single cable outlet
EIA 568B	Now the most common UTP cable colour codes and pin allocation
Horizontal cabling	The structured cabling which connects the wall sockets to the network cabinet or wiring closet.
IEEE 802.3	Physical cabling layer standards for Ethernet
Infrastructure	The collection of communication components (excluding active equipment) that together provide support for the distribution of information within a building or campus
Intranet	A large private company network often spanning many countries
IP	Internet Protocol. Along with TCP is used to track and deliver data packets over a network
ISP	Internet Service Provider. The company who provides a connection to the internet.
LAN	Local Area Network
MAN	Metropolitan Area Networks, Spanning a Town or City.
Multi mode	Fibre optic cable which supports multiple wavelengths. Diameter of 50 to 100 microns with a stepped refractive index. Can use inexpensive LED light sources.
NEXT	Near End Cross Talk. The effect of one cable pair’s signal on the adjacent pairs
Patch Cable	The cable connecting the network panel and the active switch or hub.
Patch panel	An array of connectors in the network cabinet to allow circuit rearrangements by plugging in patch cords.
Premises cabling	The complete cabling infrastructure for the transmission of voice, data and video throughout a given building.
Pulling tension	The maximum pulling force which can be applied to a data cable without affecting its electrical characteristics and consequently its network performance.
Reversed Pairs	The most common miswire where the single wires in a pair have been reversed.
RJ11	Registered Jack number 11. Small line plug and socket used on telephone handsets and modem connections.
RJ45	Registered Jack number 45. 8 pin plug and socket
SC connector	A connecter for terminating fibre optic cables. Can be snapped together to form a duplex connector for RX and TX transmissions.
Shielded	Cable with a braided or foil shield to keep out RFI and EMI.
Split Pairs	Where the single wires from two different pairs have been swapped. If the same at both ends will not affect short cable transmissions, but will fail over longer distance. A common fault
ST connector	Straight Tip. A connector for fibre optic terminations
STP	Shielded Twisted Pair copper cable
Structured cabling	The fixed solid core cabling which makes up the building wiring.
UTP	Unshielded Twisted Pair. 4 twisted pairs in one sheath.
WAN	Wide Area Network