[ Focus: Data communications ] business
installation and termination is critical to ensuring quality data transmission. We have also seen numerous cases of electricians testing data for electrical continuity only – not data transmission – with very little idea about the issues concerning data and power segregation, and the correct test practices to carry out.’
Train to gain As the products used to configure a data communications network become more complex, having the right knowledge and skills is imperative. Chris Chandler, technical manager at Brand-Rex, says:
‘For electrical installation, the main concerns are human safety and fire risk, while for data it is data performance, termination requirements and the correct amount of network planning.’ CNet Training is one of the industry’s leading
independent training providers. The company’s managing director, Andrew Stevens, states: ‘Those who believe that a wrongly configured and installed data communications network can’t kill anyone should consider the impact of downtime due to cabling failure in a hospital environment,
the emergency services or traffic control. These services require 100 per cent reliability.’
The quality of the installation and termination is critical to ensuring quality data transmission
Selection procedure Over the last 20 years, technological boundaries have regularly been redrawn and today’s network infrastructures provide the very highest levels of performance demanded by end users. In 1990 the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 standard for running Ethernet over two twisted pairs of wire was approved. More than 90 per cent of the world’s data network cabling is currently based on the Ethernet standard and, of that, the majority is unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling. That said, with 10 Gigabit Ethernet now in demand, many people believe that shielded twisted pair – made up of four twisted pair insulated copper conductors wrapped in an outer plastic casing – is the best way to achieve this level of performance. The latest performance milestone occurred in 2010
when the IEEE ratified its standards for 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, and focused on using fibre optic cabling to achieve these speeds over specified distances. Copper
November 2011 ECA Today 53 53
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