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 ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1-2001 
 Approved:  April 12, 2001 
 
 
TIA/EIA 
STANDARD 
 
 
Commercial Building 
Telecommunications Cabling Standard 
 
Part 1:  General Requirements 
 
TIA/EIA-568-B.1 
  (Revision of TIA/EIA-568-A) 
 
 
 
  MAY 2001 
 
  
 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 
 
The Telecommunications Industry Association  
represents the communications sector of     
 
                                                             NOTICE  
 
 
TIA/EIA Engineering Standards and Publications are designed to serve the public interest through 
eliminating misunderstandings between manufacturers and purchasers, facilitating interchangeability and 
improvement of products, and assisting the purchaser in selecting and obtaining with minimum delay the 
proper product for his particular need.  Existence of such Standards and Publications shall not in any 
respect preclude any member or nonmember of TIA/EIA from manufacturing or selling products not 
conforming to such Standards and Publications, nor shall the existence of such Standards and 
Publications preclude their voluntary use by those other than TIA/EIA members, whether the standard is 
to be used either domestically or internationally. 
 
Standards and Publications are adopted by TIA/EIA in accordance with the American National 
Standards Institute (ANSI) patent policy.  By such action, TIA/EIA does not assume any liability to any 
patent owner, nor does it assume any obligation whatever to parties adopting the Standard or 
Publication. 
 
This Standard does not purport to address all safety problems associated with its use or all applicable 
regulatory requirements.  It is the responsibility of the user of this Standard to establish appropriate 
safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations before its use. 
 
(From Standards Proposal Nos.4425-B, 4425-B-1 and 4425-B-2, formulated under the cognizance of the 
TIA TR-42 Committee on User Premises Telecommunications Infrastructure.) 
 
Published by 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION 2001 
Standards and Technology Department 
2500 Wilson Boulevard 
Arlington, VA 22201 
 
PRICE:  Please refer to current Catalog of 
EIA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES ALLIANCE STANDARDS and ENGINEERING       
PUBLICATIONS or call Global Engineering Documents, USA and Canada  
(1-800-854-7179) International (303-397-7956) 
 
 
 
 
 
All rights reserved 
   Printed in U.S.A. 
 
PLEASE! 
DON'T VIOLATE 
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LAW! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
     This document is copyrighted by the TIA and may not be reproduced without 
     permission. 
 
     Organizations may obtain permission to reproduce a limited number of copies 
     through entering into a license agreement.  For information, contact: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
U.S.A. and Canada 1-800-854-7179, International (303) 397-7956 
Englewood, CO 80112-5704 or call 
Global Engineering Documents 
15 Inverness Way East 
 
 
 
TIA/EIA-568-B.1 
Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard; 
Part 1: General Requirements 
 
Table of Contents 
 
 
FOREWORD ........................................................................................................................... vi 
1 
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 
Purpose ..........................................................................................................................1 
1.1 
Specification of criteria......................................................................................................1 
1.2 
1.3  Metric equivalents of US customary units ...........................................................................1 
Life of this Standard..........................................................................................................1 
1.4 
1.5 
Telecommunications cabling system structure....................................................................2 
2  Scope................................................................................................................................. 4 
2.1  Normative references ........................................................................................................4 
3  DEFINITION  OF  TERMS,  ACRONYMS  AND  ABBREVIATIONS,  AND  UNITS  OF 
MEASURE ................................................................................................................................ 6 
3.1  General ...........................................................................................................................6 
3.2  Definition of terms ............................................................................................................6 
3.3 
Acronyms and abbreviations............................................................................................11 
3.4  Units of measure............................................................................................................12 
4  HORIZONTAL CABLING................................................................................................ 14 
4.1  General .........................................................................................................................14 
4.2 
Topology .......................................................................................................................14 
4.3  Horizontal distances .......................................................................................................15 
4.4  Recognized cables .........................................................................................................16 
4.5  Choosing types of cabling ...............................................................................................16 
4.6  Grounding considerations................................................................................................17 
5  BACKBONE CABLING................................................................................................... 18 
5.1  General .........................................................................................................................18 
Topology .......................................................................................................................18 
5.2 
Star topology ..........................................................................................................18 
Accommodation of non-star configurations .................................................................19 
Cabling directly between telecommunications rooms ..................................................19 
5.3  Recognized cables .........................................................................................................20 
5.4  Choosing media .............................................................................................................20 
Backbone cabling distances............................................................................................21 
5.5 
Intra and interbuilding distances ................................................................................21 
5.2.1 
5.2.2 
5.2.3 
5.5.1 
 
 
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TIA/EIA-568-B.1 
6.4.2 
6.4.2.1 
6.4.2.2 
6.4.2.3 
6.4.1.1 
6.4.1.2 
6.4.1.3 
6.4.1.4 
6.4.1.5 
5.5.2  Main cross-connect to entrance facility......................................................................22 
Cross-connections...................................................................................................23 
5.5.3 
5.5.4 
Cabling to telecommunications equipment .................................................................23 
5.6  Grounding and bonding considerations .............................................................................23 
6  WORK AREA................................................................................................................... 24 
6.1  General .........................................................................................................................24 
6.2 
Telecommunications outlet/connector ..............................................................................24 
6.2.1 
100-Ohm balanced twisted-pair telecommunications outlet/connector...........................24 
6.2.2  Optical fiber telecommunications outlet connector ......................................................25 
6.3  Work area cords ............................................................................................................25 
6.4  Open office cabling.........................................................................................................26 
6.4.1  Multi-user telecommunications outlet assembly .........................................................26 
Application planning..........................................................................................26 
Installation practices .........................................................................................26 
Administration ..................................................................................................27 
Maximum lengths for copper cabling...................................................................27 
Horizontal distances of optical fiber links (long work area cables)..........................28 
Consolidation point ..................................................................................................28 
Application planning..........................................................................................28 
Installation practices .........................................................................................29 
Administration ..................................................................................................29 
7  TELECOMMUNICATIONS ROOMS............................................................................. 30 
7.1  General .........................................................................................................................30 
7.2  Design ..........................................................................................................................30 
7.3 
Functions ......................................................................................................................30 
7.4  Cross-connections and interconnections ..........................................................................30 
8  EQUIPMENT ROOMS.................................................................................................... 32 
8.1  General .........................................................................................................................32 
8.2  Design ..........................................................................................................................32 
8.3 
Functions ......................................................................................................................32 
8.4  Cabling practices ...........................................................................................................32 
9  ENTRANCE FACILITIES ................................................................................................ 33 
9.1  General .........................................................................................................................33 
9.2  Design ..........................................................................................................................33 
Functions ......................................................................................................................33 
9.3 
Network demarcation point .......................................................................................33 
Electrical protection.................................................................................................33 
Bonding and grounding.............................................................................................33 
Entrance facility connections ....................................................................................33 
10  CABLING INSTALLATION REQUIREMENTS.......................................................... 34 
General......................................................................................................................34 
10.1.1  Placement of horizontal and backbone cables ............................................................34 
9.3.1 
9.3.2 
9.3.3 
9.3.4 
10.1 
 
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TIA/EIA-568-B.1 
10.2 
10.3 
10.4 
11.1 
11.2 
Balanced 100-ohm twisted-pair cabling (UTP and ScTP).................................................34 
10.2.1  Minimum bend radius...............................................................................................34 
10.2.1.1  Minimum horizontal cable bend radius ................................................................34 
10.2.1.2  Minimum backbone cable bend radius ................................................................34 
10.2.1.3  Minimum patch cable bend radius ......................................................................34 
10.2.2  Maximum pulling tension..........................................................................................34 
10.2.3  Connecting hardware termination ..............................................................................34 
10.2.4  Patch cords, equipment cords, work area cords, and jumpers .....................................35 
10.2.5  100-Ohm ScTP grounding requirements.....................................................................35 
Optical fiber cabling ....................................................................................................35 
10.3.1  Minimum bend radius and maximum pulling tension ...................................................35 
10.3.2  Connecting hardware termination and polarity.............................................................35 
10.3.3  Patch cords, equipment cords and work area cords ....................................................37 
150-Ohm shielded twisted-pair cabling..........................................................................38 
10.4.1  Minimum bend radius...............................................................................................38 
10.4.2  Maximum pulling tension..........................................................................................38 
10.4.3  Connecting hardware termination ..............................................................................38 
11  CABLING TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE AND TEST REQUIREMENTS ...... 39 
General......................................................................................................................39 
100-Ohm twisted-pair transmission performance and field test requirements.....................39 
11.2.1  Purpose and scope..................................................................................................39 
11.2.2  Applicability ............................................................................................................39 
11.2.3  Test configurations ..................................................................................................39 
11.2.4  Test parameters ......................................................................................................41 
11.2.4.1  General............................................................................................................41 
11.2.4.2  Wire map.........................................................................................................42 
11.2.4.3 
Length.............................................................................................................43 
11.2.4.3.1  Physical length vs. electrical length ..............................................................43 
11.2.4.3.2  Length requirements....................................................................................43 
11.2.4.4 
Insertion loss....................................................................................................43 
11.2.4.5  Pair-to-pair NEXT loss .......................................................................................45 
11.2.4.6  PSNEXT loss ...................................................................................................46 
11.2.4.7  Pair-to Pair ELFEXT and FEXT loss parameters...................................................47 
11.2.4.8  Cabling PSELFEXT ...........................................................................................49 
11.2.4.9  Cabling return loss............................................................................................51 
11.2.4.10  Propagation delay............................................................................................52 
11.2.4.11  Delay skew.....................................................................................................52 
Optical fiber transmission performance and test requirements.........................................52 
11.3.1  Purpose..................................................................................................................52 
11.3.2  Link segment ..........................................................................................................53 
11.3.3  Link segment performance .......................................................................................53 
11.3.3.1  Horizontal link measurement..............................................................................54 
11.3.3.2  Backbone link measurement..............................................................................54 
11.3.3.3  Centralized optical fiber link measurement ..........................................................55 
Link attenuation equation and graphs..................................................................55 
11.3.3.4 
ANNEX A (NORMATIVE) CENTRALIZED OPTICAL FIBER CABLING............................. 58 
A.1 
Introduction....................................................................................................................58 
A.2  Applicability...................................................................................................................58 
11.3 
 
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TIA/EIA-568-B.1 
A.3  General guidelines..........................................................................................................58 
ANNEX B  (INFORMATIVE)  SHARED  SHEATH  GUIDELINES  FOR  MULTIPAIR  UTP 
CABLES.................................................................................................................................. 61 
B.1  General .........................................................................................................................61 
B.2  Shared sheath guidelines ................................................................................................61 
ANNEX C (INFORMATIVE) OTHER CABLE SPECIFICATIONS....................................... 62 
C.1  General .........................................................................................................................62 
C.2  Horizontal cabling...........................................................................................................62 
C.2.1  Multipair 100-ohm twisted-pair cables ........................................................................62 
C.2.2 
75-Ohm coaxial cable ..............................................................................................63 
50-Ohm coaxial cable ..............................................................................................63 
C.2.3 
C.3  Backbone cabling...........................................................................................................63 
C.3.1 
100-Ohm STP cable ................................................................................................63 
C.3.2  Other multimode optical fiber cables..........................................................................63 
75-Ohm coaxial cable ..............................................................................................63 
C.3.3 
C.3.4 
50-Ohm coaxial cable ..............................................................................................63 
ANNEX D (INFORMATIVE) CATEGORY 5 CABLING TRANSMISSION .......................... 64 
D.1  General .........................................................................................................................64 
D.2  Measurement precautions ...............................................................................................64 
D.3 
Test configurations .........................................................................................................64 
Test parameters .............................................................................................................65 
D.4 
D.4.1  Wire map................................................................................................................65 
Length....................................................................................................................65 
D.4.2 
D.4.3 
Insertion loss ..........................................................................................................65 
D.4.4 
Pair-to-pair NEXT loss..............................................................................................65 
D.4.5  Cabling return loss...................................................................................................67 
D.4.6  Channel and basic link pair-to-pair ELFEXT ................................................................68 
D.4.7  Channel and basic link PSELFEXT............................................................................69 
D.4.8 
Propagation delay....................................................................................................69 
D.4.9  Delay skew.............................................................................................................69 
Cabling (field) measurement procedures .................................................................69 
D.4.10 
D.4.10.1  Test equipment cords and connectors ................................................................69 
Field failure mitigation procedures ..........................................................................70 
ANNEX E (INFORMATIVE) OPTICAL FIBER APPLICATIONS SUPPORT INFORMATION
................................................................................................................................................. 71 
E.1  General .........................................................................................................................71 
E.2  Supportable distances and channel attenuation.................................................................71 
ANNEX F (INFORMATIVE) BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................... 75 
 
 
D.4.11 
List of Tables 
 
Table 6-1  Maximum length of horizontal and work area cables .................................................. 27 
Table 11-1  Insertion loss @ 20 °C for channel test configuration................................................ 44 
Table 11-2  Insertion loss @ 20 °C for permanent link test configuration...................................... 44 
 
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