Joe Small Business Owner rushes out to buy the latest and greatest servers, printers, and wireless access points for his company – spending lots of capital in the process.  Yet when it comes to his inside wiring, he just runs another used cat 5 wire he got from eBay or Craig’s List across the floor or over a cabinet and thinks he is saving money. What’s wrong with this picture?

For starters, “rat’s nest wiring” can create many problems that get blamed on the shiny new equipment – such as poor performance and interference.   Running wires too close to fluorescent lighting can also cause interference that shows up as slow data or voice connections.   And who knows what is actually INSIDE those walls!

Wires with frayed shielding in the walls can cause increased vulnerability to interference too, and this can be an elusive problem that usually gets blamed on equipment misconfiguration.    Damaged media or wiring inside the walls can lead to intermittent dropped connections, which is very annoying when using VoIP (voice-over-IP) telephone systems as key parts of calls may be dropped.

Poor termination of Ethernet cabling or fiber optic cabling can lead to a whole host of problems that can plague your business’s mission critical activities in many ways.  And using old wiring such as cat 3 while trying to handle streaming media is another mistake made by many – it is older media and directly analogous to trying to fit an entire pitcher of lemonade into a thimble.

What’s a business owner to do?  Call experienced network cabling installers to come and do a comprehensive evaluation of not only the cabling you can see, but also what you can’t see.  Professional installers use the latest wire integrity evaluation equipment on the market to test for compromised shielding, improper termination, or damaged media that may be wreaking havoc on your business communications.  And they will only recommend that wiring be upgraded if it really needs to be – no need to worry about upgraded wiring being recommended just because someone wants a trip to Tahiti.

Business communications are critical to your very growth – and survival in this economic climate.  Running top notch “state-of-the-art” IT equipment over faulty wiring is like driving a Porsche in off road conditions; you just wouldn’t do it. Professional installers will identify any wiring issues, and also any potential interference issues and either reroute wiring or use a media type that is not susceptible to interference.

No matter what the professionals find, they will keep your needs and your budget in mind at all times throughout the process.   No nasty surprises at the end of the job, and no more compromised communications.  Why wait, call professional network cabling installers today!

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There has never been a more exciting time to be involved with IT or technology itself – as innovation is everywhere.  Many new changes are disruptive in nature, and promise to change the way we work, play and live in positive ways. A few of these breakthroughs include Telepresence, and 4G wireless technologies such as LTE and WiMax.

Why is Telepresence disruptive?  It promises to change the way we conduct business by taking all the ills brought by videoconferencing and addressing them, so that the illusion of a face-to-face meeting is preserved real time.   In turn, the need for travel is minimized  which saves millions of dollars for many corporations while reducing the overall carbon footprint – allowing businesses to position themselves as “green” in the marketplace.

Telepresence adoption rates are growing rapidly as new applications for the technology are discovered, such as high end virtual fitting rooms and showrooms in the retail world and virtual medical consulting for shut-in patients.

4G wireless technology is disruptive as it provides a true merging of the cellular and wireless data worlds – allowing full data capabilities to be enjoyed over smart phones and enabling a whole host of mobile devices that are smaller than a laptop yet bigger than a mobile phone. This allows us to remain connected no matter where we are, yet untethered.

New 4G technologies promise to address the dropped calls we all experience on existing cell networks as well, and will allow increased subscriber densities too.   Most importantly, with 4G technology, we will actually be able to download data files using our mobile phones without it seeming to take hours.  Critical files can be downloaded on our smart phones anywhere, and later transferred to netbooks or laptops for modifications if needed. Web browsing will be much faster, and real time video gaming over mobile phones will be enabled for the first time.

These trends and many others will continue to shape our world in the foreseeable future.   Watch for holographic telepresence systems and even faster mobile networks to arrive within the next 5 to 10 years.

Keep in mind that when in need of professional data installation services or structured wiring, it is absolutely essential that you hire experienced network cabling installers, for all of your IT infrastructure needs.

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The standardly used wiring for both home and company networks is twisted pair – twisting the wires cancels out electromagnetic interference effects and improves SNR or signal-to-noise ratio.  Because cat 5, cat5e and cat6 wiring are all twisted pair wiring types, there are special handling requirements that apply.

First of all, try not to twist the cable as you install it.  This can cause fragile internal wiring to split or break, and can degrade the insulation.  When running twisted pair cabling, try to use gentle curves rather than sharp angles which can degrade performance.  It also makes sense when using UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cabling to install wires a safe distance away from any other wiring, and especially from fluorescent lighting.

To maximize performance and minimize latency, use as short of a cable run as you possibly can get away with using.  In any event, never use more than 100 meters of cabling.   Pulling two wires per “drop” (room, or area needing a connection) provides redundancy, which means you have a spare should one of the wires become degraded.   Using two boxes of wiring makes this easier to do.  Position your patch panel or hub in a central location such that each wire run is minimized.

If you nick a cable – don’t just let it go and think it will be OK. It won’t be over time.  Degradation in performance is easy to achieve at Fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet speeds.  Discard or recycle this cable and pull a new one, to be safe.  If you start with the longest runs first, if you nick a long wire, you can cut some of it off and still have enough for a shorter run.

It goes without saying that labeling each wire as soon as you pull it makes it easier to remember where it goes!  Use colored tape, and mark the same colors on the RJ45 sockets you place the wire terminations into.   Try to minimize the untwisting you do at the ends and connections when terminating the wires.   Test the wiring with a high quality tester – lower quality testers do not detect “split pairs” or stress test wiring at high bit rates.

Pulling low voltage twisted pair cabling does take time and practice – if the infrastructure you are considering pulling is mission critical, it makes sense to leave it to professionals.   Call experienced network cabling installers a cost-effective, thorough and professional job that you can count on for future as well as current infrastructure needs.

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Cloud computing and storage is a rapidly growing trend in the IT world – and its advantages are many.  Storing company data in the cloud means the data is safe in the event of a local disaster or fire, eliminates the needs for local power-hungry and maintenance intensive servers, and is in keeping with the current trends towards outsourcing.

Yet every business needs to consider whether using the cloud is right for their unique needs – as cloud computing is not going to be cost-effective for everyone at this stage.

First of all, any business using cloud based information storage for mission critical material needs to make sure that the data is backed up in multiple places.  If a bomb hits Denver, Colorado and that is where your data is stored, this doesn’t pose a problem if you have redundant storage in a data center in New York, for example.

Secondly, if instant retrieval of data is required – having a solid WAN connection using a reputable provider with a good SLA (service level agreement) is essential.  Otherwise, information retrieval could be slow and spotty.

If security is a concern, there are highly secure facilities available for storage.  However, many security conscious companies prefer to have their data directly under their thumb – stored locally with tight controls such as biometric requirements to allow access.

If your company is large with high data storage requirements, creating a data center tailored to your unique needs and managed by direct employees simply makes sense.  This can then be viewed as a “private cloud” – accessible to only those in your enterprise. But if your company is small, purchasing, maintaining and upgrading servers may be a bigger headache than moving to the cloud.

One of the greatest benefits of the cloud is the use and storage of applications to be used across your entire business.  This frees your employees and/or internal IT staff from the endless cycle of bug fixes and upgrades that used to be required for PC resident applications, and allows them to do more productive, revenue producing work.

Having each entire hard drive or computing capability in the cloud also frees individual users from having to run virus checkers, antispyware checkers and other utilities that can cost them productive work time or severely compromise their systems if not performed in a timely manner.

Overall, the cloud represents a paradigm shift from yesterday’s thinking that all equipment had to be resident at the customer’s site.   It may make many think that the importance of having a solid company IT backbone and infrastructure is lessened, but in fact, the opposite is true.  In order to use remotely stored data and applications most efficiently, the basics for a great IT infrastructure have to be in place.  If you need to upgrade your internal wiring, routers, or local IT architecture – call structured wiring installers to help you create a winning strategy for your current and future needs.

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For the last several years, technical magazines and blogs have heralded the arrival of the “smart home” as a goal for those of us who pride ourselves on being on the cutting edge.   Is the “smart home” really available for the common household to attain? What is it, really?

For starters, a smart home doesn’t have to resemble a Sci Fi flick or the home of the cartoon characters “The Jetsons” from the 60s.  With properly installed infrastructure, a “smart” home can look as “dumb” as a log cabin – until you uncover its secrets.

Today’s smart home IS a reality, and has a combination of both wired and wireless networking components – wireless access points to connect gaming stations, security cameras and laptops to the web, and wired connections for mission critical components such as computers that use streaming video, smart TV boxes or gaming platforms such as the PS3 that connect to Netflix, and VoIP telephones or ATA (analog telephone adapters).

Given the demands placed on the network infrastructure, a minimum of 6MB of Internet bandwidth is essential.  Luckily, this is not difficult in today’s environment. Many major cities actually offer up to 12MB to residential customers at a reasonable price.

Smart homes can combine a wide variety of features and benefits, which can include integrated TV-telephone and internet which allows viewing of Caller ID on the TV or retrieval of messages or recorded TV shows from the Internet, control of appliances or lights over a web-based control system, streaming “on-demand”  movies over the Internet straight to your TV, automated reporting of security issues over the Internet to local authorities or fire departments, and automated power usage reporting to help control costs.   Some smart homes, although few at this stage, also have robots programmed into the infrastructure to help with household chores such as sweeping, mowing the lawn, and even getting things from the fridge!  The company that makes the Roomba vacuum offers an open source kit for designing such a customized robot as part of your personalized smart home.

The wired part of a smart home’s infrastructure should be sound, scalable to support future upgrades, and invisible to guests or animals that could trip over loose wiring.   It is best to use the latest technology wire such as cat 6 or cat6e also, as future requirements may make cat 5 cable obsolete.  Doing it yourself may be fun, but in the long run, it is best to hire a professional team that is familiar with the latest low voltage code standards to handle these tasks.  Make sure you hire network cabling installers that will wire your smart home to YOUR needs.

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Current industry best practices for network design for enterprise and small business clients begin with a solid understanding of the businesses’ current and future needs. Scalability must be built in from the start; otherwise the network will limit the company’s future growth.  This means using a distributed rather than centralized architecture for most installations.

Today’s networks are combined voice-video- and data networks, not just data networks like yesteryear.  This means QoS (quality of service) must be built in from the start to prioritize voice and video traffic where packet loss can create loss of business communications. Service providers chosen should offer QoS as part of an SLA (service level agreement) and internal Ethernet switches should also offer at least a ToS bit QOS scheme.  Switch ports must be configured to auto-negotiate speed/duplex levels, power levels, enable portfast, and to enable queueing on uplink ports to ensure that the Voice VLAN gets priority across the entire LAN.

Copper rather than fiber cabling is preferred for VoIP networks within a business or enterprise as fiber networks require media convertors which are viewed as another potential point of failure.  All wiring should meet requirements for 100MB Fast Ethernet, and should be certified as free of faulty shielding, improper termination, or other defects.   At least cat 5 wiring and preferably cat5e or higher wiring should be used.

PoE or Power-over-Ethernet switches are also preferred as they can be used in conjunction with a back up power source so that business communications and data sharing are continuous in the event of a power outage.   When PoE switches are used with IP phones and a back up power source, the phones will also still work in the event of a power failure.

A gateway that connects to the PSTN (public switched telephone network) is also needed to handle 911 calls or external calls in the event of WAN failure.  This functionality is included in many IPPBXs or routers available today.

Best practices design is a constantly changing concept also, based on the latest and greatest technology and findings.  It pays to hire an experienced data installation firm that keeps pace with today’s best practices and networking know-how.

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One way of running a small business or home network with no new wires is by moving to a powerline networking scheme, which has been the subject of much study and interest due to its simplicity.  However appealing this simple scheme may be, it is not suitable for all networks and does have its pros and cons.

The pros of this technology are obvious – most rooms have multiple electrical outlets so there is no need to run new wires or add additional terminations; printers now no longer have to be located near computers; the newest power line technology called PowerPacket runs at 14MBps so it is quite fast compared to earlier power line networking; and kits to install this technology are inexpensive (around $50-100 is all that is needed).  Companies like Cisco and Netgear offer off-the-shelf power line networking switches and routers that are very cost-effective and easily installed.

This technology does have its cons, however, which is why it is not more popular than wireless technology today.  Although chip manufacturers claim that their chips circumvent this problem, users of the technology say that network performance varies with electrical usage.  This means you could have difficulty downloading a large file while running your dishwasher, for instance.   Quality of electrical wiring varies from home to home and business to business – and some older buildings have very poor wiring.  If you are in an older building, it is probably best to run some new cat 6 or cat 6e Ethernet cabling and call it a day.

Also, the adapter you need to plug in to run a home powerline network cannot be plugged into a surge protector, which may be inconvenient in some cases.   Plus 14Mbps is not nearly enough bandwidth to allow video streaming or a good quality VoIP phone system to run properly.

If you have a simple one or two man office that doesn’t require streaming media usage or large file downloads and want to minimize wiring changes and expense, then powerline networking may be the way to go.  It also may be a good supplement to an existing network in hard to wire zones such as warehouses or garages where the Internet is only used for data entry and to look up the number for your local pizza delivery guy.

But for most modern businesses and state-of-the-art smart homes, this technology still has some growing up to do!

If you would like a professional consultation on the suitability of powerline networking for your home or business needs, contact experienced network cabling installers. Their professionals will do a comprehensive assessment of your unique situation, and recommend the most cost-effective technology solution available.

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Today, businesses small and large are scrambling to get on the green bandwagon. Environmental issues such as the oil platform accident in the Gulf surround us. Being green now means saving money, and the PR leverage for green business changes has never been higher.

How can you tie being green and sustainable into your IT strategy?  There are many advantages to having a “state-of-the-art” IT infrastructure when it comes to saving both the earth and money for your business, and most are simply implemented.

First of all, make sure you use PoE or “power-over-Ethernet” powered switches and routers in your business.   Not only do they use less overall power, they can be easily controlled by the Smart grid when this new technology is fully in place, meaning that your equipment will be safer in the event of a brown-out or grid overload.

Secondly, encourage file transfer among employees rather than printing, and require a password to retrieve files from the printer.   Many times, employees simply send files to the printer and forget to pick them up.  This wastes paper and kills trees.   Document sharing via IT collaboratory tools such as Go-to-Meeting and Webex also helps cut down on printing and paper waste.

Implementing a Telepresence system from Cisco, Cisco/Tandberg or HP will dramatically reduce your carbon footprint by reducing air travel, which also reduces costs.  Telepresence interoperability has expanded dramatically, which means it is no longer just an intercompany communications tool but can be used for customer, supplier, legal, and outsourced employee communications as well.

LCD screens use less power than old style CRT monitors, so upgrading to them will cut power usage while giving your employees more desk space and better viewing conditions for hard to read documents.

A solid enterprise VoIP system enables your employees to work from anywhere and maintain the same phone number – allowing them to telecommute one or more days a week to diminish the carbon footprint.  This also makes a great PR story and adds to employee satisfaction.

Automation that allows shutdown of lights, air conditioning/heat, and unnecessary equipment can also be integrated with a strong IT system to green your utility usage and cut costs.  Control can be set up over the web, so you can manually override these controls as needed for a small business that may have changing utility needs.

Obviously all these measures require a strong IT infrastructure for proper operation.  Make sure you contact structured wiring installers who have a great deal of experience designing such infrastructure for both small and large companies, as well as solid customer testimonials as proof of success and competence.  Don’t trust the backbone of your company’s IT infrastructure to just anyone!  Choosing the right infrastructure provider means you will get the best fit architecture for your company’s current and future needs, to allow you to green your business and shave costs in the process.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention our Network Cabling website as the original source).