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Structured Cabling: An Introduction

These days, structured cabling plays a significant role in helping businesses operate efficiently. In fact, it has almost become a necessity for larger companies. This truth is exponentially compounded for companies that rely heavily on technology to function on a day-to-day basis. The old ways of networking a business often involved an unending sea of cables, wires, and equipment. But with structured cabling, IT professionals and the companies they serve can finally make sense of the mess!

What is structured cabling? It’s a type of network infrastructure that focuses on organizing all your cables by type into one packaged unit that’s designed to maximize high-speed connectivity. Not all networking cables are created equal! In fact, your business may need several different classes of cables to handle all your demands, ranging from traditional network cables to coaxial and fiber-optic cabling. Additionally, structured cabling follows commercial networking regulations to provide greater security and efficiency, as well as greater flexibility for possible future upgrades.

 

How Structured Cabling Can Provide a Complete Infrastructure

Structured cabling allows your business IT network to run like a well-oiled machine. But beyond that obvious benefit, did you know that it can also give you full control over your company’s technology infrastructure? From fiber-optic cabling for your high-speed data processing needs, to video and audio cabling for security and surveillance, structured cabling bundles it all into one package. In fact, there are several ways the benefits of structured cabling add up to better define your technology infrastructure.

1. Aesthetics

Beyond making your employees more productive, structured cabling will give your business that extra aesthetic advantage over the competition. Simply put, it looks more professional to have your networking cables and hardware placed in neatly organized bundles. So, if you’re tired of cluttering up your office landscape with tangled cords, structured cabling is the way to go!

2. Upgrade Friendly

Structured cabling also helps reduce the time it takes to make upgrades or repairs. Since this system is segregated into groups of devices connected to a single cable panel, IT professionals can identify issues or plan upgrades without spending hours deciphering which cable is which and where it goes.

3. Scalable

Your structured cabling system can easily be expanded to allow your business to grow without being constrained by networking limitations often found in outdated cabling systems. Odds are good that your network will be required to accommodate several different generations of devices over its lifespan, so make sure your infrastructure is built to handle any future changes and updates!

4. Customizable

Each office space is different, and each may have varying requirements for its respective cabling needs. Your wiring demands can evolve based upon your building layout, current hardware, and available budget. One benefit of structured cabling is that it can be custom-tailored to meet each of your technological needs.

5. It Pays for Itself

Despite the inherent costs of changing from a point-to-point cable system to structured cabling, the investment will eventually pay for itself in terms of increased efficiency and fewer IT-related maintenance costs over time.

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Why Structured Cabling is Important for Your Business

1. Flexibility

Over time, your business’ networking needs are likely to expand, and you’ll want to be prepared for anything that might come your way. Structured cabling will help you stay ahead of the curve by remaining adaptable in almost any situation that might arise. No more limitations on your hardware and related components!

2. Fewer Human Errors

A huge factor in downtime for any business is that of human error. All it takes is one person unplugging an important component or improperly installing something to cause significant hardware, software, and network problems in your office space. Having a structured cabling system in place can help prevent an isolated issue from affecting the rest of the network. This can streamline everyone’s workload, while giving IT professionals the power to vastly cut down on any inevitable human errors that may occur.

3. Structured Cabling is Less Complex

Anyone that’s ever tried to network a printer knows just how difficult it can be to handle all the wires and the mishaps that come along with them. Even in a wireless world, this doesn’t absolve businesses from potential networking problems. Structured cabling keeps all your cables in neat bundles that are far less complex to maintain.

4. Ease of Management

Older networking systems often have scalability issues, and as your business expands, transferring large amounts of data throughout the network will become increasingly difficult. Structured cabling, however, will allow you to better manage whichever type of networking system best fits your growing needs, so you can adapt on the fly.

 

Why Small Businesses Need Structured Cabling and the Cost

Whether you’re a large-scale entity or a bourgeoning business enterprise, cutting out networking pitfalls is paramount to success. Point-to-point cabling systems are outdated and are often difficult to expand or fix. This places a considerable strain on your employees and IT staff, resulting in more downtime for your systems and less efficiency in your business.

What is point-to-point cabling? With a point-to-point system, users plug their computers and hardware directly into a modem or server. The caveat is with this setup is that, for each new user, you will require a new cable to connect them. The point-to-point method works just fine at a smaller scale, but what happens when your business needs to expand, and you’re suddenly surrounded by too many devices and insufficient infrastructure to handle it? Those outdated systems can quickly become a gargantuan issue for the health of your business. And like a houseplant trapped in too small of a planter, your business can’t grow when outmoded and poorly-organized cabling systems constrain it.

Structured cabling is transforming small business networks around the world by organizing complex IT infrastructures into one cohesive, industry-wide system that’s easy to manage and adaptable to future needs.

Expanding your voice and data cabling system might not always be cheap. Furthermore, companies housed in older buildings may face numerous, costly installation issues based on infrastructure and design limitations. However, the benefits that structured cabling yields far outweigh any costs or headaches that might occur during installation. Businesses that make the switch will see returns like faster connections, reduced downtime, system flexibility, greater scalability, and minimized IT costs.

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Get Structured Cabling Installed Today with IDeACOM NC!

IDeACOM NC is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, and we’re proud to follow the strictest installation and testing guidelines for the setup of structured cabling systems.

By building custom systems for each and every client, IDeACOM can tailor your network architecture to meet each of your business’s specific needs. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an already established company or a smaller start-up; IDeACOM’s dedicated experts will make sure that your network operates as efficiently as possible. And once installed, IDeACOM is available to provide ongoing support for any issue that may come your way. So do away with that outdated cabling system and upgrade to one that will help your business grow and prosper!

In addition to those services, IDeACOM offers a full range of communication solutions, including hosted and VoIP phone services, voice and data cabling, managed IT services, surveillance systems, and more! We’ve been trusted for over 60 years to serve areas across North Carolina, from the coast to the Blue Ridge mountains. Give us a call today at (336) 854-4455 and let’s talk about how we can best serve your business needs!