Structured cabling systems for the global premises distribution market

Advances in information technology have drastically altered the requirements of premises distribution systems. The advent of the personal computer has redefined the office environment and created a growing demand for high-speed local area networks. Accompanying that demand has been the need for open, standards-based, structured cabling schemes designed to handle traffic generated by the networks, no matter where they might be in the world. With these needs in mind, AT&T developed the Systimax® premises distribution system. This article describes how a structured cabling system, utilizing high-performance media and interconnection components designed within the context of open standards, has resulted in an increase of many orders of magnitude in the speed of signals carried over premises distribution systems.