Paul S. Kreager
KAI/Level 0-1 Inc.
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA, Arlington, VA) released the first draft revision of the TIA/EIA-569 pathway and space standard for industry ballot and comment last December. Approximately 200 technical comments were reviewed at the March TIA TR-41 meeting in Ft. Myers, FL, and at a special interim meeting held in Chicago in April.
Because of the large number of comments received, the pathway and space document has been revised and was released again for industry ballot and comment this spring. Comments on the second draft will be reviewed at the September TIA TR-41 meeting in Ottawa, Canada. Assuming quick resolution of second draft comments, the TIA/EIA-569A standard should be available late this year or in early 1997.
Although it is difficult to know what TIA/EIA-569A will ultimately look like, you can expect many enhancements to the first edition of the standard. Here is a sampling of major items being considered:
Addition of consolidation-point and multiuser telecommunications-outlet pathway and space considerations
Consolidation of all interbuilding specifications into a new annex, anticipating that this annex will eventually be removed from TIA/EIA-569 when the TIA releases an outside-plant standard covering the same material
Addition of a subsection covering the main terminal space in the equipment-room chapter
Addition of furniture pathway and space requirements to the work-area chapter.
Changes made to the guidelines on pathway separation from electromagnetic-interference sources
Deletion of the annex of symbols because the TIA/EIA-606 standard now covers this material
Firestopping becoming a requirement of the standard, instead of being just an informative annex in the original document
Changes in transition-box sizing, equipment-room floor loading, telecommunications- closet layout and vibration specifications.
Paul Kreager is a consultant and educator in the telecommunications infrastructure field. He chairs the TIA TR-41.8.3 Working Group, responsible for the 569 and 606 standards. He can be reached at [email protected].