A Portfolio of up To Code's work
Codes and Standards.
All installations meet NEC and
ANSI/TIA/E1A 568A-5 Standards
All low voltage cabling be it data, voice, fiber or coax needs to be installed via the National Electrical Code (NEC) and the ANSI/TIA/E1A 568A-5 Standards. These are the books we use to install all our telecommunications networks. Many installations (usually the cheap prices) do not follow these Codes and Standards because it costs more money to wire a network up to code and standard. We only do code and standard based network installs.
Upon Investigation
These are pictures of work we have found either in an effort to fix network cabling problems or when installing new cable runs. You will be amazed at some of the low quality work that is out there.
 Telecommunication cables laying on top of electrical wires (NEC Violation) |
 Fiber Optic and Copper data cables pinched by a ceiling tile (ANSI/TIA/EIA 568A-5 Standards) |
 Just in case you need some extra wire! |
 As soon as we took off the ceiling tile everything came crashing down (NEC Violation) |
 Data wire coming though wall with no fire-stop and/or grommet |
 3" of untwisted pairs (ANSI/TIA/EIA 568A-5 Standards) |
 Data wire being pinched by telephone jack |
 Telephone jack A rats nest of wires being support by a coat hanger |
Pathways
Pathways are the area that the horizontal cable runs usually from the termination closet (TC) to the wall of the room the cable is going to. This is a critical area and the place where most of the mistakes are made especially throwing the cables on top of the ceiling tiles and over florescent lights.
 Neatly dressed data cables in their own pathway |
 Proper fire-stopping |
 Proper pipe stubbing with grommets |
 Use of Grommets to protect cabling |
 Proper fire stopping |
 Proper Use of J-Hooks |
Termination Closet
The Termination Closet (TC) is where all the cables are labeled and punched down before they are connected to the hubs, switches and routers. It is important to stay in the specification of twist length between the cable and patch panel. Additionally, it is important to label and document all cables so if you need to troubleshoot anything it can be done quickly and easily.
 Patch Panel installation w/ proper ground |
 Close up of proper ground |
 Termination on back of patch panel |
 Patch Panel |
 Front view of relay rack |
 Proper ground |
 Side view of Relay Rack |
Labeling and Testing
An uncertified network will cause you potentially long term problems. Many installations by pass this step because of cost. This is a key element and assures you that the installation is in the ANSI/TIA/E1A 568A-5 specification. A cable scanner tests for wiremap, NEXT, ACR and length.
 Properly labeled jacks and patch cables |
 Penta cable scanner from Microtest with the ability to test cabling up to 100 MHz |
 Sceicor fiber optic termination tools |
 Brady 2200 labeler |
 OmniScanner from Microtest with the ability to test cabling up to 350 MHz |