PERSPECTIVE
The broadening
structure of copper
cabling systems
Gone are the days when the commercial office
building is the almost-exclusive environment
in which copper cabling is deployed.
BY HARSHANG PANDYA, InspiRain Technologies Pte Ltd.
Back in 2002 I had my first exposure to
the cabling world as a research-and-de-
velopment engineer. My first task was to
make sure that a field tester I was work-
ing on removed the effects of the patch-
cord connector on the tester side for
channel measurements. I still remem-
ber how strange I felt about that assign-
ment. That connector, I knew, was go-
ing to play a role in how well the data
flowed in the cable. But it was supposed
to be “untested.” Even though the tes-
ter already tested that connector, I was
going to be paid to make it not tested. I
am very happy about the recent devel-
opments toward defining “plug-termi-
nated links,” and “end-to-end links.” We
are broadening the structure of the ca-
bling, in fact in more ways than most of
us would imagine. The new “structure”
is expanding the scope of deployment
of copper cabling well beyond just office
4 JUNE 2017 Cabling Installation & Maintenance
buildings and campuses.
Copper cables can carry both data
and power. This single advantage, re-
flected in Power over Ethernet (PoE) sys-
tems, will make copper cables compel-
ling for years to come. And copper is
easy to handle. I have successfully ter-
minated a few cables myself. My record
with handling fiber-optic cable is far
from enviable. I once had a newly de-
veloped fiber-adapter prototype of a ca-
ble tester, where the referencing was not
making sense. Our quality-assurance
guy thought it was a bug in the soft-
ware I wrote. After reviewing patiently,
my code looked alright—not just to me,
but even to other, smarter colleagues. So
I suspected the cable that was used for
referencing. I tried all the other fiber ca-
bles in our lab, and the result still would
not make sense. I was horrified later to
find that this whole issue was caused by
some dust settling on the endface of the
connector on the tester’s fiber adapter.
What I inadvertently did was dam-
age endfaces of all the sample fiber ca-
bles in my lab by rubbing them against
the bad connector on the test adapter.
Copper cables and connectors are more
forgiving to poorly skilled technicians
like me. And I am convinced there are
many such technicians out there. And
is copper still cheaper? I am not follow-
ing the prices, but I believe that is still
the case. By the way, Category 8 is an-
other sign that copper cables are here to
stay. I follow the announcements of test
instruments; that is my world. There is
a “first” Category 8 tester, and there is
a “true” Category 8 tester. That shows
someone still senses opportunities in
Category 8 cabling.
Back to the topic of structure. Ten
years back, would you have imag-
ined the Telecommunications Industry
Association (TIA) standardizing a con-
nector other than RJ45? They just did
that with Category 8.2 specifications. A
channel was supposed to be specified
to 100 meters—not a meter less. That
changed with Category 8. The reason?
The changing “structure” of the struc-
tured cabling. Data centers have a large
number of short-distance links that
carry enormous amounts of data. And
these links in most cases don’t need to
go to wall outlets; they just need to pro-
vide end-to-end connections between
the server and the switch.
We are used to, and comfort-
able with, a typical commercial office
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 devices—now want Ethernet cables too.
I like to use the term “adaptive cop-
per cabling systems” to characterize
the application environments in which
twisted-pair cables are now deployed.
A few months ago, during an IEC stan-
dards meeting in my home city-state of
Singapore, almost all the cabling pro-
fessionals I talked to told me they sold
more copper cables in 2016 than in pre-
vious years. But they had to adapt to the
changing “structure” of these systems.
The test-instrument engineer in me
asks: What does it mean for testers? Do

The commercial office building used

to be where cabling was installed.
Today, a cable installation “site” can The connected car by Broadcom
be the interior of an automobile.
(Original image: Broadcom)

building as the site at which we install Twisted-pair

cabling. But what would you think about Ethernet
installing cables at a “site” that is actu-
ally the interior of an automobile?
This is what I mean by changing
“structure.” So many aspects of the
structured cabling systems assumed
where and how the cable was going to be
used. There was, perhaps unwritten, an
assumption that every cubicle in every
Infotainment
office would have a person working at a
computer, with a patch cord connecting
it to a wall outlet, and then to the hid-
360˚ Camera system On-board
den permanent link connecting that ca- diagnostics
ble to the telecom room and some patch
panel. How do we adapt to the new sce-
nario? Hardly any computing devices of Ethernet and twisted-pair cables.
now have cable connections. The main Everything else seems to be shaking up we look beyond channel adapters and
function of cables in enterprises now the structure. The site does not need to permanent link adapters? How about
is to connect wireless access points, as be a fixed concrete structure. It can be testing different numbers of pairs, dif-
well as the security cameras and the dis- a vehicle. The cables no longer have to ferent bundling schemes, and differ-
tributed antenna system (DAS) anten- have four pairs. New automotive and in- ent “sites”? I don’t claim to know all the
nas. Most of these devices need to be dustrial Ethernet cables will have just answers, but it sure is going to be fun
powered, and this is best done by PoE- one pair. Computers might not need finding out. 
enabled copper links. Ethernet cables anymore, but now TV
What has survived this significant sets want them (for HDBase-T), and Harshang Pandya is principal of InspiRain
Technologies Pte Ltd. (www.inspirain-tech.com).
structural change is the combination LED lights—along with a lot of other IoT

www.cablinginstall.com Cabling Installation & Maintenance JUNE 2017 5