Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 14.1
Color Coding Areas in the Structured Wiring System
Orange
Telephone company demarcation
Blue
Horizontal
Green
Customer network connections
Purple
PBX, host, LAN, MUX
White
Backbone intrabuilding, 1st level
Red
KTS, EKTS
Brown
Backbone interbuilding
Yellow
Misc.
Gray Backbone intrabuilding, 2nd level
NOTE: It is recommended by the standard that cross-connects be grouped by color for ease of identification.
It is also recommended that different sheath colors (cable jackets) be used to aid in distinction between types of
circuits.
(Source: TIA-569)
but the standard shows blue for this use. The color gray is used in the standard but
only for second-level backbones, from the IC to the telecommunications room.
Many LAN installers would agree that there is an advantage to having the LAN
cables a distinctly different color from the telephone cables, but the standard assigns
the same color to both types of station cables. (Advantage lost!) Of course, if the
telephone cabling is simply run in a traditional color such as gray, despite the stan-
dard, then the LAN cables may be run in the recommended blue color to distinguish
them from the telephone cables.
However, in a design that includes both telephone and LAN cabling, you could
not simply specify that the TIA standards be used in your statement of work,
because the telephone cable color would not be in compliance.
Frankly, it would be easier to just use traditional colors for all the telephone
wiring. Inter-closet cables are easy to recognize because they have distinctly larger
pair counts and are consequently physically much bigger than the station cables.
You could adhere to the color code at all points of termination or interconnection
for the telephone system.
Since many cabling veterans strongly recommend keeping LAN wiring com-
pletely separate from telephone wiring, the use of contrasting blue LAN station wire
is appealing. You could allow a deviation from the cable color recommendation for
the telephone wiring, but would maintain color coding for the LAN cable.
Making Horizontal Runs
How many horizontal cables should you run between telecommunications rooms
and to the work areas? The standard states that you should run two cables to each
individual work area, but is this enough?
