TIAEIA568

TIA/EIA-568, commonly written as TIA/EIA-568, is a set of commercial building cabling standards developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). It defines the requirements for structured cabling systems in offices and other non-residential environments, covering voice, data, and video services and providing a standardized framework for installation, performance, and testing. The standard aims to ensure interoperability among equipment from different manufacturers and to support future upgrades with minimal rework.

The standard describes a structured cabling architecture consisting of horizontal cabling, backbone cabling, work areas, telecommunications rooms, and equipment rooms. It specifies cabling media, notably twisted-pair copper and optical fiber, connector types such as RJ-45, termination schemes, as well as channel and link performance requirements, labeling, and testing methods. It also defines typical category performance levels (e.g., cat 3, 5e, 6 and higher) and corresponding certification procedures. For copper, the horizontal segment is specified up to 90 meters, with up to 10 meters of patch cords at the ends, yielding a maximum channel length of 100 meters.

Historically, TIA/EIA-568 has been issued in revisions commonly referred to as 568-A and 568-B, with later updates introducing 568-C and onward. The standard is widely adopted in North America and forms the basis for interoperability of voice and data networks in commercial buildings. It is harmonized or aligned with international cabling standards such as ISO/IEC 11801 and is used in conjunction with other TIA/EIA specifications for fiber and backbone cabling, labeling, grounding, and testing methodologies.