Using data outlets for connecting devices on the wired network

Structured Cabling System Series

By: Jerome Auza

We are all familiar with the electrical outlets that are normally found on the walls around our houses and offices. Because of the lethal effects of touching a live electrical wire, we literally have no choice but to wire our electrical outlets properly and using outlets fixed on the walls.

Data outlets that are fixed on walls or tables should be used when implementing a computer network. But unlike electrical outlets, there is no danger of users being electrocuted. Rather, the reason for using data outlets is to ensure that the part of the network from the rack to the data outlet is fixed on the building structure. This offers long term reliability of the network. The user will just need to use a patch cord to connect the computer or other devices to the data outlet.

Untrained installers sometimes just connect computers directly to the network switches using a long patch cord. This is bad practice since it can easily lead to “spaghetti” network where the cables become so organized as the number of network connections increase.

In office environments, some users may need to have both telephone and a computer network connection. Fortunately, cabling for computer networks will work for telephone connections also so two data outlets per user is ideal. The user will have flexibility of using one of the network ports for the computer. The other is for telephone or another device to be connected to the network such as VOIP phones to connect to IP-PBX systems.

Data outlets may be installed in 1-gang, 2-gang, 4-gang or 6-gang configurations. For office applications, 2-gang installations per workstation is ideal.