What is Cable Plant Management?
Cable plant management is the
design, documentation, and
management of the lowest layer of
the OSI network model-the physical
layer. The physical layer is the
foundation of any network whether it
is data, voice, video or alarms, and
defines the physical media upon
which signals or data is transmitted
through the network.
Approximately 70% of your network is
composed of passive devices such as
cables, cross-connect blocks and
patch panels. Documenting these
network components is critical to
keeping a network finely tuned. The
physical medium can be copper cable
(e.g., cat 5), coaxial cable,
optical fiber (e.g., single or
multimode), wireless or satellite.
The physical layer defines the
specifics of implementing a
particular transmission medium. It
defines the type of cable,
frequency, terminations, etc. The
physical layer is relatively static.
Most change in the network occurs at
the higher levels in the OSI model.
Key components of the cable plant
include the entrance facility,
equipment room, backbone cable,
backbone pathway, telecommunication
room, and horizontal distribution
system. We can show you how to
develop an online inventory and
management system that will let you
take control of these critical
infrastructure resources.
