Glossary Category: Structured Cabling

Backbone Cabling is the portion of a structured cabling system interconnecting telecommunications rooms, equipment rooms, and entrance facilities — typically using fiber optic cable to carry aggregated network traffic between distribution points.

Cat6 Cabling is a copper twisted-pair cable standard supporting Gigabit Ethernet at up to 328 feet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet at shorter distances — the most widely installed horizontal cabling type in commercial facilities.

Cat6A Cabling is an augmented Category 6 copper cable standard supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet at the full 328-foot horizontal channel length — the recommended specification for data centers, high-density environments, and new commercial builds designed for long-term performance.

D-Marc Extension is a cabling installation that extends the telecommunications network demarcation point (D-Marc) — the boundary between the ISP’s equipment and the building owner’s infrastructure — from its initial location to a more accessible or practical point within the facility.

Division 27 (ICT infrastructure, structured, network, or communications cabling) is the construction specification section governing design, procurement, and installation of all communications and ICT cabling infrastructure in commercial building projects — including structured cabling, fiber optics, audiovisual systems, and security cabling.

Horizontal Cabling is the portion of a structured cabling system running from the telecommunications room to each individual work area outlet — limited to 295 feet of cable within a 328-foot total channel.

Low Voltage Cabling is a broad category of electrical wiring operating below 50 volts — encompassing structured data cabling, fiber optic infrastructure, security camera wiring, access control cabling, audiovisual systems, and sound masking installations in commercial buildings.

Moves, Adds, and Changes (MAC) is post-installation modifications to an existing structured cabling system — including relocating work area outlets, adding new cable drops, re-patching connections, and updating documentation — performed to support changes in facility layout, staffing, or technology.

OSP Installation (Outside Plant) is the installation of communications cabling infrastructure in outdoor environments — including underground conduit systems, direct-buried cable, aerial cable, and campus interconnects between buildings.

Patch Panel is a rackmount hardware assembly with multiple RJ45 ports (typically 24 or 48 ports) that consolidates all horizontal cable terminations in the telecom room — providing a central, organized cross-connect point between the structured cabling infrastructure and the active network equipment.

Plenum Cable is a fire-rated cable type with a low-smoke, low-toxicity jacket (CMP-rated) approved for installation in air-handling plenum spaces — the concealed areas above drop ceilings and below raised floors that circulate HVAC air throughout a commercial building.

Structured Cabling is a standardized, building-wide telecommunications infrastructure composed of copper and fiber cabling, patch panels, racks, and connecting hardware — engineered to support voice, data, and network systems through a single organized physical layer.

T568A / T568B is the two wiring pinout standards defined in ANSI/TIA-568 that specify how copper cable pairs are assigned to the eight positions of an RJ45 connector or keystone jack — T568B is the commercial standard in the United States.

Tenant Improvement Cabling is the installation of new or upgraded communications cabling infrastructure during a commercial tenant improvement (TI) project — typically performed during a build-out, renovation, or re-occupancy of leased commercial space.

Voice/Data Cabling is copper cabling infrastructure supporting both telephone voice communications and data networking through the same structured cabling system — typically Cat6 or Cat6A installed to a common telecommunications outlet at each work location.