Cabling is the basic building block for most local area networks (LANs). Cabling challenges arise as these networks reach 100 Mbps and beyond, especially for unshielded twisted pair (UTP) networks. Standards are rapidly evolving, and performance demands on cable and connecting hardware far exceeds those of only a few years ago.

Companies spend thousands of dollars upgrading their network equipment but the cabling often gets little if any attention. This is ironic, because if the cabling doesn't work, the network doesn't work. Some estimates are that cabling issues account for up to 50% of all LAN failures. This results in network downtime which translates to millions of dollars in lost productivity, idle resources, and lost revenues. If you are a network administrator, it is essential to understand how to get the best performance from your cabling investment and find faults quickly when they occur.

If you are a cable installer, you need to be up to date on the latest cable installation and conformance techniques to ensure that your work meets changing international standards.

It can be difficult to keep track of this rapidly changing area of technology. In 1999 alone, there were new Category 5 cabling standards for supporting Gigabit Ethernet, new Category 5e standards, a new IEEE Gigabit Ethernet standard, important amendments to international cabling standards, new fiber optic standards, and significant progress towards new Category 6 and 7 standards. Many of these new standards required new measurements, higher bandwidth, and higher dynamic range in field measurements. None of the old Level II field testers would be able to support this new level of performance. To accurately make measurements in these new areas would require advanced field testing technology.

Installing and maintaining a reliable physical cable plant is essential to the well being of today's mission-critical LANs. This involves two main areas. Most commonly, field testing is done for certification of new cable plants, to ensure they are capable of meeting cable and application standards. Also, field testing is done in the event of adds, moves, or changes, or in the case of troubleshooting to isolate a point of failure.

Fortunately, success with high performance premise cabling is not difficult once its capabilities and characteristics are understood. This website is intended to help you navigate through the clutter of standards, cable classification systems, measurement technology, and applications information so that you can increase your productivity, stay current, and deliver better value to your organization.