Another Standard Called 568C?

This recent standard defines requirements for twisted-pair and fiber optic cabling. It lays down the design, installation, and maintenance best practices as described in BICSI's Telecommunications Distribution Methods Manual. The manual covers over 300 pages of information, but lets take a quick look at some key features of the new standard.

ANST/TIA-568-C.0

Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premises

• Generic terminology has been introduced to describe cabling segments and connection points
• Category 6A has been added as a recognized media
• Optical fiber link test requirements were moved to this document
• Optical fiber link performance requirements were moved to this document
• The installation bend radius requirement for UTP and F/UTP cables has changed to "4x cable o.d." and the patch cord bend radius requirement has changed to "1x cable o.d." to accommodate larger diameter cables
• Stewardship text has been added recognizing the need to support sustainable environments and conserve fossil fuels

ANSI/TIA-568-C.1

Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard

• Category 6A has been added as a recognized media
• 850nm laser-optimized 50/125µm optical fiber is recommended if multimode optical fiber is used for backbone cabling
• Category 5, 150 Ohm STP, and 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm coaxial cabling have been removed from the list of recognized media

ANSI/TIA-568-C.2

Balanced Twisted Pair Telecommunication Cabling Components Standard

• Category 5e cabling is recommended for support of 100 MHz applications
• Category 5 channel performance values have been preserved in an informative annex
• Balanced twisted-pair channel and permanent performance requirements were moved to this document
• Performance equations for individual transmission parameters are listed in a single table for all categories
• Coupling attenuation has been introduced as a parameter that is under study for characterizing radiated peak power generated by common mode currents for screened cables
• One laboratory test method has been defined for all categories of connecting hardware

ANSI/TIA-568-C.3

Optical Fiber Cabling Components Standard

• ISO nomenclature for optical fiber cable type (i.e. OM1, OM2, OM3, OS1, and OS2) has been added to transmission performance tables
• Recommended connector strain relief, housing, and adapter color coding has been added to support installations when color is used to identify fiber type
• Minimum OFL bandwidth for 62.5/125 mm optical fiber cable has been increased from 160 MHz·km at 850 nm to 200 MHz·km at 850 nm.

When might you see this standard? An example would be when a specific customer premise standard that outlines terminology does not exist. Then the 568 C.0 is only to be used.

A copy of the standard can be purchased from IHS at (www.global.ihs.com).