Figure 1 shows the elements of cabling infrastructures that are subject to standardisation. The first element that defines the standardisation process is the type of premises within which the cabling is to be installed.

There are standards for cabling in residential premises, “office type” commercial premise, sindustrial premises and data centres. The type of premises, their dimensions and the applications (networks) used within them serve to drive the technologies that are used to provide the cabling infrastructure.

With a defined premises type, the elements that are able to be standardised are design, specification, planning, installation, inspection, testing, handover, operation, maintenance and repair.

Design addresses the cabling structure, the performance of the cabling and the construction of the cabling in terms of allowed lengths and components to be used. Specification applies the design standard and addresses the creation of a specific requirement that, along with planning, produces an Installation Specification for the task in hand. The actual installation phase concludes with the commissioning process. In the context of this series of elements, commissioning can be considered to be inspection and testing of the installed cabling. Handover is the formal process of providing the appropriate information to the client that allows the successful and legal operation of the infrastructure. Maintenance and repair of the infrastructure may also be subject to standardisation.

Telecommunications cabling covers two principal areas. The first is the domain of the network operator providing services to the premises, the second is the premises infrastructure itself. The information provided below addresses the latter. However, the network operators domain does have associated standards: primarily via the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) but also in regional bodies such as ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute).

The three types of standards that encompass these elements are DESIGN, INSTALLATION and COMMISSIONING.

DESIGN standards generally refer to external component standards.

INSTALLATION standards cover the specification, planning, installation, handover, operation, maintenance and repair elements.

COMMISSIONING standards generally are a cookbook of inspection and test methods covering the relevant range of technologies and transmission parameters.

The information provided below follows this approach when the terms design standards, installation standards and commissioining standards are used.

There are three primary regional standards activities that cover premises cabling infrastructures European (the primary source of British
Standards)
international
the United States of America (although
North America might be a more appropriate
description).

Unfortunately, the approach that the different standards bodies take to each element is not consistent. The international and European approaches are the cleanest while the North American package is quite confused with elements of installation and commissioning being included in the design standards.

For premises cabling standards, the relevant international standards organisation is ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3. This body works in association with other technical bodies within other international standards groups including ISO and IEC. An international standard such as an ISO, ISO/IEC or IEC document may be adopted by a national standards body by prefixing the standards reference with its own such as those listed above. However, this does not always occur if the country is a member of a more "local" regional body. For example, because there is a European version of ISO/IEC 11801 (EN 50173-1) there is no BS ISO/IEC 11801 even though the UK is a strong supporter of ISO/IEC work.

International standards are particularly useful for countries that do not fall under a regional standards grouping such as Europe or North America. For example, Australia publishes international standards as its own: in Australia and New Zealand, ISO/IEC 11801:2002 is published as AS/NZS 3080:2002.

Click here for the current list of ISO members
Click here for the current list of IEC members

The international standards committee responsible for premises cabling is ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 convened by Walter von Pattay (Germany). The working group also has semi-permanent two Task Groups: Industrial Premises Task Group and Cabling Implementation Task Group both of which are convened by Mike Gilmore (UK).

This committee depends upon a number of other IEC committees for external references:
balanced twisted pair cable specifications are
produced by IEC SC46XC;
balanced connecting hardware specifications
are produced by IEC SC48B.
optical fibre cable specifications are produced
by IEC SC86A;
optical fibre connecting hardware specifications
are produced by IEC SC86B;
test methods for balanced cabling are produced
by IEC TC46 WG9;
test methods for optical fibre cabling are
produced, in part, by IEC SC86C.

Click here for list of current relevant standards.
Click here for committee matrix information.