ABSTRACT

This book is written as an aid to understanding the complexities of structured or premises cabling systems that are used to make today’s office-based local area networks (LANs) actually work. So often we hear statements to the effect that cabling only accounts for 0.5% of the company’s information technology budget yet accounts for 30% of the IT problems! Cabling may not be the most glamorous subject but the cables represent the foundation, indeed the physical layer, of the IT infrastructure. If the cabling isn’t designed, procured, installed and tested correctly then the top six layers of the OSI networking model will simply be unable to function. It is probably fair to say that the cabling, despite its operational importance, capital outlay and long life expectancy, does indeed only attract 0.5% of management time. This book will hopefully help people to redress that balance.