Wednesday 7 May 2014

The Top 7 Mistakes you do When Installing a Network Cable

Network cabling is one of the last things a company thinks of prior to its construction or relocation. Improper installation of cables can affect the network performance and may create hidden expenses. Some mistakes happen over and over again which may cost organization’s cost, time and valuable customers. A smoothly running network can deliver high performance and decreases the network downtime. Some common pitfalls in network cable installation are described here:

1. Selection of hardware and software needed for the cabling:

Network cabling can be done with different combination of hardware and software. Choosing the first available option is not a right choice. Sometimes setups that work perfectly for some organizations may not work for others. For best results consider the factors like, how many devices are to be connected, the operating systems running on the computer, the type of Internet service used, requirements and the purpose of the network, etc.

2. Not using cable management or bad cable management design:

Cable management is an important step during the installation and its purpose is to support the cables while being routed between buildings and to make safer hardware installation, repair or removal. Including rack based cable management will increase the cost, but it can also reduce the ongoing maintenance cost and all cabling systems will look neat and organized. Proper labeling of cables or color-coding them is necessary to identify them later.

3. Construction without keeping standards:

In 2005, the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) published the TIA 942 standard that sets the necessary requirements for network architecture and installation. TIA 942 covers security, system redundancy; file backup, hosting, power management and many other procedures. It covers not only the requirements of the network but also about the supplemental services. TIA-942 standard helps to ensure quality of network cabling and produces a network with high reliability, consistency and security.

4. Lack of design before implementation:

Detailed specifications about the project can help to compare between the cabling contractors. The design document should specifically define the requirements and the qualifications of the contractor to do the job. After a thorough comparison select the best cabling contractor and proper communication is needed with them mentioning the needs and other options that they recommend.

5. Interruption from electric cables:

Most of the network cabling is made up of UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cables. Electric wires will generate a magnetic field around them. Since the cables are unshielded, the magnetic field will generate interference problems in the network cables. This creates the connection distorted and noisy, which can completely break the transmission or slows down the connection because of the constant interruption.

6. Lack of technical support:

It creates a lot of problem when in the middle of a busy business day the network goes off and the support staffs is not available to fix it or unable to deal with the problem. If network is vital for the daily operations of the business then they should have experienced technical support staffs that are available 24/7. It can make the network environment more efficient and cost effective.

7. Lack of future planning:

While installing network cables the expensive part is the labour expenses. So when the company is relocating or installing a new cable, avoid the yesterday’s best technology and opt to install something that will meet today’s needs and can meet the needs of the future. 

The need for a network is virtually indispensable in today’s business environment. There are many ways to decrease the downtime and improve the efficiency of the network. 

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