Wire Management Flexibility For Smart Buildings

The design adage “form follows function” is still true today even as employees function entirely differently than they did just a few years ago. But the form of a traditional office can severely restrict new and emerging functions like hotelling, networking, and video conferencing. Permanent offices and semi-permanent work stations -- even those with access to conference space or a “war room” -- can impede the work of specialized teams.

Today, facilities need spaces that can be customized so that form can follow function quickly and cost effectively. But moving temporary partitions and rearranging modular furniture does not translate into true flexibility unless power, voice, data, and even video cabling can be repositioned just as quickly. Conventional “behind the wall” wiring does not provide the kind of fast, easy access required to support constantly changing personnel and ever-evolving technology. To reconfigure conventional wiring and cabling, contractors must break into walls, pull wire and cable, and install new outlets and connectivity devices – a time-consuming and costly process.

There is a better way to achieve flexibility in premises wiring: wire management systems that enable cable to be located where it is needed and make relocations and upgrades quick and efficient.

Wire Management Systems

Wire management systems, such as cable trays, raceways, infloor ducts, power poles, and poke-thrus were initially developed to route and protect electric wiring -- a role that they continue to perform. However these systems are also well suited for low-voltage applications because they offer accessible and secure pathways for all types of cabling. While wire management systems differ in their design and location within a facility, they share common attributes, including the flexibility to accommodate both routine changes and large-scale system expansions and replacements.

Wire management systems may be grouped into three general categories, based on their location within a facility: overhead, perimeter, and infloor.

Overhead Distribution Systems

Overhead distribution systems, whether concealed in suspended ceilings or installed in open overhead spaces, offer a high degree of flexibility, both in terms of locating the components and accessing the cabling contained within them. Overhead systems include wireway and cable tray systems that are available in single-channel and divided configurations with a variety of sizes, covers, and hanging options.

Center spine cable trays consist of a central support member from which extend a series of rungs that support the cable. The cable tray is suspended from a series of single hangers, rather than the conventional trapeze hanger. The spine-and-rung configuration allows cables to be laid in and eliminates the need for labor-intensive cable pulling.

Solid bottom cable trays offer an effective way to manage wiring in open environments while keeping it accessible, organized, and secure. Solid bottom cable tray can be specified with or without internal dividers, covers, and ventilation louvers. Hanging systems include center rod support, C-hanger, or a two-hanger trapeze configuration.

Ladder cable trays offer strength and high capacity and are thus well-suited to heavy-duty power distribution in industrial facilities. They do not, however, offer the wire and cable management flexibility of solid bottom or center spine cable trays, since cables must be pulled rather than laid in place.

Wireway is a totally enclosed wire management system that unlike cable tray systems does not include provision for activation of the wiring or cabling contained within. Hinged or screw-on covers provide complete protection, while allowing convenient access to add, remove, or reconfigure cabling. Wireway differs from solid-bottom cable tray mainly in the requirement that the cables be covered.

Cabling from any overhead distribution system must eventually be dropped to floor-level equipment and workstations. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this. Solid bottom cable tray or wireway can be installed vertically against a wall or a suitable support column. Drop-out fittings guide the cables from cable tray or wireway into these vertical enclosures. Another option is service poles that distribute power wiring and low-voltage cabling from overhead systems to individual work spaces where the communications systems are accessed by modular jacks and other connectivity devices located on the pole.

Perimeter Raceway Systems

Another general type of wire management system is perimeter raceways that route wiring and cabling securely along the building’s walls. Perimeter raceway systems are often specified for areas that require aesthetically pleasing, easily accessed cabling systems, such as conference rooms, offices, classrooms, and training centers. Unlike conventional conduit, electronic cabling that is laid into a raceway requires no cable pulling and remains easily accessible at all times.

Available in a variety of materials, raceways offer single or multiple channels and accept integrated communications activation devices. Perimeter systems are frequently installed in combination with overhead or infloor systems. For example, voice and data cabling may run through an infloor duct system from the communications closet to a workstation area. The cabling is then routed from the trench to surface raceways that are attached to workstation partitions, providing convenient access to the communications networks.

Infloor Distribution Systems

Infloor wire management systems are an increasingly popular option for designed-in cabling flexibility. Available in a variety of one-, two- and three-duct configurations, infloor systems offer support and security for communications cabling in reinforced concrete and steel constructions. Infloor systems are installed during construction under poured concrete. Access is provided by low profile service activations in the floor.

In contrast to infloor duct systems, which must be installed during construction, poke-thrus lend themselves to retrofit applications in multi-story buildings. Poke-thru fittings are installed in holes that have been core-drilled through concrete floors. They carry cabling from the overhead area to the floor above. The newest poke-thrus are fire-rated and can accommodate Category 5 cabling.

Category 5 and Fiber Optic Considerations

The wire management systems discussed above are designed to accommodate all types of communications cabling. However, high-performance Category 5 and fiber optic cabling present some special considerations. Maintaining the precise bending requirements of high-performance cabling is essential to ensure noise reduction integrity and overall performance. Well-designed wire management systems include specialized cable drop-out and radiused fittings that ensure proper installation of fiber optic and Category 5 cabling. These fittings allow cables to be routed around corners, elbows, and T’s, while controlling cable bending in excess of 1.25 in. Dropout fittings used with cable tray systems facilitate a smooth transition from the overhead tray down to the workstation without excessive bending or cable stress.

The growth of premises wiring and the trend toward routing advanced cabling in wire management systems has also created a need for a wider array of communication connectivity interfaces. Easily interchangeable inserts and a common interface simplify original installation and later alteration of low voltage unshielded twisted pair, shielded twisted pair, coaxial, and fiber optic cable. These device plates install into metallic and nonmetallic raceway systems, vertical poles, and a wide range of surface and flush mount boxes. Devices with snap-in designs enable installers to secure inserts to both plastic and metallic surfaces without the use of special tools. Changing configurations is also easy because it’s not necessary to remove face plates and trim plates.

Premises Wiring and Aesthetics

Perhaps it was because the technology developed so quickly, but premises wiring systems developed an early reputation for poor aesthetics. Because the benefits of local area networks and other communications systems were so great, many facility managers were willing to overlook a cabling infrastructure that was a forced mixture of colors and uneven or nonexistent styling. However, aesthetically pleasing work environments has become a high priority. Today’s integrated connectivity and wire management systems are designed to be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. Now products that are commonly used together, such as raceways and information outlets, are perfectly color matched and manufactured for a seamless look.

Future Flexibility

Installing communications cabling in wire management systems provides facilities with both operational and systems flexibility. Operation flexibility encompasses the day-to-day or month-to-month changes required for the workplace to keep pace with the functions being performed in it. A good example of this type of flexibility is changing a conference room into a multi-media training center overnight. Systems flexibility, on the other hand, enables a facility to accommodate new or expanded communications technologies over the long term. An example of long-term flexibility is upgrading to a Category 5 or fiber optic system.

In today’s complex and competitive environment, premises wiring involves more than just the modular copper connectivity portion of an installed cable plant. There are other issues, including the demand for ever-increasing data transmission rates, desktop video, and audio applications, must be addressed in providing a true end-to-end premises wiring system. Wire management systems efficiently and economically manage increasingly complex building wiring requirements while offering maximum workplace flexibility.

Flexible wire management systems also add value to both new and renovated buildings by lowering operational and long-term systems costs by efficiently and economically managing increasingly complex building wiring requirements. When selecting a premises wiring system, it is important to consider the difference between installed and life cycle costs. Installed costs include the time and money incurred during the actual installation process. Life cycle costs are the cumulative costs to maintain a cabling infrastructure over its full life cycle period. Both costs can vary greatly, depending on the type of wiring system installed. It is important to realize that while a flexible wire management system may be more expensive to install than other solutions, the system’s accessible design will offer labor savings over the life of the installation.