Whether you're a home office worker, a small business owner, or managing multiple departments that need business-critical systems, getting the network layout just right can be a challenge. Efficiency is a mixture of system performance and physical convenience, and you may not see both the benefits and drawbacks of certain systems until most of your equipment is moved into place. Here are a few cabling, device placement, and general tech design concepts to keep in mind as you prepare your business for a better network.
Understanding Cable Routing And Outlet Placement
Network cables specifications include maximum distances that must be considered. For this reason, any professional installation will install cables through walls and wiring-specific corridors. This will cut down on the length of cabling needed to reach any given destination, which cuts down on cabling costs.
Cabling costs involve more than the cost of the actual cable. Before reaching a cable's maximum effective distance, you will need a switching device such as a switch, repeater, or router to start a new length of cable.
The cost of this equipment also comes with a decrease in network performance. Although data moves very fast through copper or fiber optic cables, it's still a physical distance that takes real time. The milliseconds add up across long distances, and the time for a switch to accept and continue distributing data is even more time. This doesn't matter for most businesses that aren't involved in providing data as a product, but it's a waste of money to not maximize the distance.
A business network cabling services professional can measure the distance between your internet source, your different devices, and the potential paths for wiring to make the distance as short as possible while still being effective.
Wireless Access Point Placement
When working with a wireless network to distribute data, cabling is still necessary--even if it's just an inch of cable. Although some people may have ideological reasons to be truly wireless, an efficient wireless access design will give an access point to all of the cabling it needs to reach a certain point.
The main question has nothing to do with wiring. Instead, you need to ask, "Where is a good spot for an access point?" If you're thinking about the center of the room or the corners or a building, you're close, but not quite on the mark.
Wireless signals are not perfect in any modern device. The waves are roughly circular or beam-like depending on the broadcaster, but there will always be interference. The interference that matters to most people will involve blockage or significant data failure, but anything from a person walking into a room to a humid day creating thicker, moist air can change the effective distance of wireless systems.
The bigger goal is to find areas that allow the greatest distance while considering static forms of interference and blockage, such as walls and furniture. The key is to overlap the available access points, and you just need to allow a wireless radio frequency professional time to calibrate a good device layout.
The cables can connect after that to make sure that a health connection is pumped into a wireless system that will degrade depending on changing interference.
If in doubt, contact a business networking cabling service to discuss your networking needs and to plan an efficient installation.