What comprises structured wiring?
The wiring infrastructure in most homes has not changed in 50 years and is unable to fully support
the technologies that are available to consumers today. However, today's wiring systems are created
to handle today's technologies and provide the electronic foundation for a "connected home." This
advanced infrastructure is necessary to ensure that your family can be connected to today's services
and prepared for new technologies. An advanced home wiring system is usually comprised of three main
components:
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The Service Center
This service center is the part where all outside services enter the home, including cable TV, telephone, DSS satellite, Internet, etc.
This central hub distributes these services to locations throughout the house in a way similar to how the electrical breaker panel
controls electricity flow. The service center is also the location for mounting electronic equipment and other system modules
used to provide more advanced applications and home solutions.
High Performance Cables
Certain services like digital satellite, high-speed Internet, and digital TV require high performance cables to allow full
access throughout the home. Most systems include RG-6 coaxial cable for TV and video, and Category 5 or better twisted-pair
cable for telephone and data. Audio systems utilizing multi-strand wiring distribute sound throughout the whole home. Coaxial cable provides maximum protection from interference with your TV picture. Category 5
or better cable provides high-speed access to multiple phone lines without cross-talk. These cables deliver all the performance
you need today, while providing the capacity to handle tomorrow's technology.
Outlets
The outlets in each room determine which services are available in that room. Each outlet can be customized to a consumer's
specific needs based on which services are desired in each room (cable, Internet access, telephone, etc.).
Without the proper outlets, the high-performance wiring behind the wall is of little value.
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Think of wiring as a pipeline for information. Conventional wiring has the data capacity of a squirt gun.
By comparison, structured wiring (using cabling such as Category 5 cables,
RG6 and fiber optics) has the capacity of a fire hose.
Structured wiring can transmit more information, faster.
Conventional wiring, which is found in most homes, consists of one or two twisted pairs of wires,
and is adequate for basic voice, fax or data communications.
Structured wiring is more advanced wiring. Not only can it handle traditional telephone, fax and data
communications, but also sophisticated video and data signals from computers.
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