New and emerging cabling standards from the TIA

Aug. 9, 2019
The Telecommunications Industry Association recently published standards related to pathways and spaces, as well as bonding and grounding. It also is developing specifications related to edge data centers, single-pair cabling, and fiber polarity.

The Telecommunications Industry Association’s (TIA) TR-42 Telecommunications Cabling Systems Engineering Committee is perpetually developing and refining standards documents to guide the specification, design, installation and administration of cabling and related communications systems. TR-42’s most recent meeting took place June 9-13. Based on subcommittee-meeting minutes and other reports, here is a rundown of some of the current and recent activity from TR-42.

TIA-569-E Pathways and Spaces Standard: In May 2019 the TIA published the latest revision to its Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces standard. ANSI/TIA-569-E has several updates from the standard’s “D” revision, including information that can help planners of twisted-pair cabling systems that will support remote powering. The 569-E standard is available for purchase here.

The Bonding and Grounding (Earthing) Standard for Customer Premises: The “D” revision of the TIA’s 607 standard is among the newest documents produced by TIA TR-42. ANSI/TIA-607-D informs system designers, installers and owners of appropriate components and techniques needed to build a generic telecommunications bonding and grounding (earthing) infrastructure that interconnects to electrical and telecommunications systems. The standard also can be used when renovating or retrofitting an existing bonding/grounding system. ANSI/TIA-607-D is available for purchase here.

Standardizing Infrastructure for Edge Data Centers: A task group within the TR-42.1 Subcommittee has initiated work to develop specifications for telecommunications infrastructure that serves edge data center facilities. While the TIA’s 942 standard series establishes wide-ranging recommendations and requirements for infrastructure within data centers, edge facilities have unique circumstances and requirements. Currently, standards-development effort is underway within TR-42.1 to create a document specific to edge data centers. We will continue to follow these efforts within TR-42.1.

Single-Pair Cabling’s Early Development: The document that ultimately will become ANSI/TIA-568.5, specifying single-pair cabling systems, has not yet developed into Draft 1.0. Much work lies ahead of the TR-42.7 Subcommittee to define the specifications for single-pair cabling. Nonetheless, the technical and business drivers that have given rise to the development of TIA-568.5 are significant, and offer significant promise to professionals who specify, design, install or use cabling systems. The progress of TIA-568.5 is another effort within TR-42 that we’ll track and report to you.

Maintaining Polarity in Fiber-Optic Channels: Maintaining polarity in optical fiber channels can be a challenge for technicians and network owners. The task can be further complicated when multi-row, multi-fiber connectivity is employed. The TIA’s TR-42.11 Subcommittee has taken up the effort to provide guidance in the form of a telecommunications systems bulletin (TSB). When completed, this TSB can be a guide to help alleviate some of the complications associated with maintaining fiber polarity.

Please watch cablinginstall.com for more updates on activities within the TIA TR-42 Committee.

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