Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.

Cabling standards are developed to provide specifications and design criteria for cabling manufacturers, suppliers, building designers, network architects, service technicians, and others. Cabling standards for data transmissions are meant to define cabling specifications for many years into the future and to support future requirements for high-speed transmissions and network design.

One of the first cabling standards was TIA/EIA-568-A, which was developed by the TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) and the EIA (Electronic Industries Association). TIA/EIA-568-A is a uniform wiring system, designed for voice and data networks, that supports multivendor products and environments. It defines how to design, build, and manage a structured cabling system. The standard defines a structured, hierarchical star-topology network in which high-speed cables (usually fiber optic) feed slower periphery networks.

ISO/IEC-11801 is an international cabling standard (also referred to as Generic Customer Premises Cabling). The standard was published in 1995. It is based on the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568 cabling standard. Note that the initial document is now considered obsolete. It was updated by ISO/IEC IS11801 AM2-1999, and later with ISO/IEC 11801 2nd Edition - 2000. These updates are outlined at the Cabletesting.com Web site given here.

See "TIA/EIA Structured Cabling Standards" for a more complete discussion of structured cabling. Cabling in general is discussed under the heading "Cable and Wiring."

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