Structured cabling in London and the South East
Cat6, Cat6a and fibre installed to the standards, tested link by link, and documented so the next person can find anything in minutes. The cabling outlives three generations of switches, so it is the part worth getting right first.
The one part of the network you only install once
Switches get replaced every five to seven years. Firewalls get replaced sooner. The cabling in the walls and risers stays where it is, often for fifteen years or more, and everything else depends on it. A link that was installed badly does not fail cleanly — it drops a few packets under load, resets a camera at night, or runs a 10-gigabit switch port at one gigabit, and nobody connects the symptom to the cable.
Structured cabling means the whole system is planned as one: the comms room, the containment, the routes, the outlets and the labelling. It is the opposite of the pattern most offices accumulate, where every new desk adds a cable run on its own terms, until nobody can trace which patch lead feeds which workstation without unplugging it to find out.
Copper and fibre, specified for what the building actually needs
- Cat6a — the right default for a new installation. Supports 10GBASE-T across the full 100-metre channel, and carries the higher Power over Ethernet classes comfortably.
- Cat6 — gigabit everywhere, and 10GBASE-T over shorter runs, which the standards limit to between 37 and 55 metres depending on how much alien crosstalk the installation has.
- Cat5e — still perfectly good for gigabit to a desk, and worth keeping where it tests clean rather than replacing on principle.
- Fibre optic — OM4 multimode between floors and comms rooms, OS2 single mode where the distance or the future bandwidth calls for it. Terminated, tested and documented the same way.
- Comms rooms and cabinets — racks, patch panels, cable management, power distribution and the kind of layout that is still tidy after two years of changes.
The cabling now carries the power as well as the data
Access points, cameras, door controllers, desk phones, room panels and increasingly the lighting all draw their power from the same cable that carries their traffic. That changes what the cabling has to do.
- 802.3af delivers up to 15.4 watts at the switch port, 802.3at up to 30 watts, and 802.3bt up to 60 or 100 watts depending on the type
- Higher power means more heat in the bundle, so bundle sizes and cable choice matter in a way they did not ten years ago
- We plan the switch power budget alongside the cabling, so the ports that need to power something can actually do it
Every link tested, and the results handed to you
A continuity check tells you the eight wires reach the other end in the right order. It tells you nothing about whether the link will carry 10 gigabits. Certification testing measures insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk and delay against the standard, and either passes or fails each link on the numbers.
- Test results for every link, supplied as a file you keep
- Labelling at both ends, to a scheme that matches the paperwork
- A port-to-outlet schedule, so a fault can be traced from a desk to a patch panel without a torch
- Rack elevations and photographs of the comms room as it was left
This is the part most commonly skipped, and it is the part you need most on the day something breaks.
What "installed to standard" actually refers to
Structured cabling is governed by published standards — ISO/IEC 11801 internationally, EN 50173 in Europe and ANSI/TIA-568 in the United States. They define the categories, the permitted lengths, the test limits each link must meet, and how the whole thing should be laid out. Alongside them sit the building's own requirements: fire-stopping where cables pass through compartment walls, containment and segregation from power cabling, and the BS 7671 wiring regulations where our work meets the electrical installation. If a quote never mentions any of this, it is worth asking why.
When To CableThe moments it is worth doing properly
Fitting out a new office
Cabling is far cheaper before the desks, the ceiling tiles and the partitions arrive. It is also the point at which the comms room location gets decided, which is harder to change than anything else.
Moving premises
The new building rarely matches the old one. See office moves for the full order of work. Cabling, comms room and switch capacity need to be ready and tested before the moving vans arrive, not discovered on the first Monday.
Adding access points or cameras
Wireless and CCTV both land in the cabling. A WiFi survey tells you where the access points need to be; the cabling is how they get there.
Moving to 10 gigabit
New switches will not deliver 10GBASE-T over cabling that cannot carry it. Testing the existing links first tells you whether you are buying switches or switches and cabling.
When the comms room has got away from you
Unlabelled patch leads, no record of what feeds what, and nobody willing to unplug anything. A re-patch and a documented schedule pay for themselves the first time something fails.
Reconfiguring the floor
Desks move, teams grow and meeting rooms get carved out of open plan. New outlets installed to the same scheme keep the system coherent instead of accumulating exceptions.
Structured cabling, answered plainly
Cat6a for a new installation, in most cases. It carries 10GBASE-T across the full 100-metre channel and handles the higher Power over Ethernet classes with less heat, so it is the option least likely to need revisiting. Cat6 is cheaper and perfectly good for gigabit, but the standards only support 10GBASE-T over it for runs of roughly 37 to 55 metres depending on the installation.
Not automatically. Cat5e carries gigabit to a desk perfectly well, and if the links test clean the money is usually better spent elsewhere. Replacement is worth considering when you are moving to 10 gigabit, when links fail certification testing, or when the installation is undocumented to the point that nobody can trace a fault.
It depends on the building and the hours we can work. Containment and ceiling work is the noisy part, so it is often done in the evening or at a weekend, with terminations and testing during the day. We agree the working pattern before we start rather than discovering it on site.
Certification testing against the relevant standard, not just a continuity check. That measures insertion loss, return loss, crosstalk and delay, and passes or fails each link on the numbers. You receive the results for every link, along with the labelling scheme and a port-to-outlet schedule.
Yes. On a fit-out the cabling has to be sequenced with the ceiling, partition and electrical work, so we plan around the programme and attend site meetings where that helps. The earlier we are involved, the fewer surprises there are about containment routes and the comms room.
Yes. OM4 multimode is the usual choice for backbone links between comms rooms in the same building, and OS2 single mode where the distance or the expected bandwidth calls for it. Fibre is terminated, tested and documented to the same standard as the copper.
Talk to us about a cabling job
Tell us the building, the number of outlets and the date you need it finished by. We will tell you what it takes — and say so plainly if the cabling you already have is fine.