Barbara E. Thompson,
former associate editor of Cabling Installation & Maintenance
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA--Arlington, VA) has published two new telecommunications systems bulletins--tia/eia-tsb-67: "Transmission performance specifications for field testing of unshielded twisted-pair cabling systems," and tia/eia-tsb-72: "Centralized optical fiber cabling guidelines." Both of these bulletins were created by TIA standards subcommittee TR-41.8.
TSB-67 specifies the electrical characteristics of field testers, test methods, and minimum transmission requirements for unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling. The specifications for UTP cabling links are meant to be consistent with the three categories of UTP cable--Category 3, 4, and 5--specified in tia/eia-568a commercial building telecommunications cabling standard. Field-tester characteristics needed for swept/stepped frequency measurements up to 100 megahertz are described to ensure consistent and reasonably accurate measurements.
TSB-72 seeks to specify guidelines and connecting hardware requirements when implementing centralized optical-fiber cabling systems. The guidelines and requirements for these networks are intended for single-tenant users who want to deploy centralized rather than distributed electronics, and who want an alternative to locating the crossconnection in the telecommunications closet.
According to the TIA, a telecommunications systems bulletin is not a TIA standard; however, it does contain technical material that may have value to the industry and users. To obtain copies of these documents, contact Global Engineering Documents at (800) 854-7179.