What is Structured Wiring?

"Structured wiring" offers you the ability to wire your home with cables for video, telephone and data. Everything is run through the inside of the walls, eliminating visible wires. Rooms can contain enough outlets to give you the maximum use of the wiring, both now and for the future. This means you can finally put the television anywhere you want, regardless of where the cable comes into the house and you will have the flexibility to expand with your family's future growing needs.

"Structured wiring" is a concept that anticipates the present and future electronic needs for every room of your household. Structured wiring systems can be thought of as the electronic foundation for your home. As telecommuting grows in popularity and the internet and cable television become staple items in American households, "future-proof" wiring techniques become a necessity for anyone building a home today.

"Structured wiring" opens many possibilities for your home. Your television can be networked to allow everyone in your house to watch the same show from a single DVD player. Your computers can be networked to share files, internet connections and even a common printer. Home offices can be built with separate phone lines for voice, fax, modem, computer networking, and rooms can be prepared for both cable and satellite reception. These are just a few examples.

A home built with "structured wiring" can be added to gradually as your needs and budget allow, but you have to plan ahead. The wiring for "structured wiring" should be installed before you fill your wall cavities with insulation and cover them with drywall. After the "structured wiring" is in place, your system can be developed at whatever pace suits your needs.

Components of a "Structured Wiring" System

There are three main components in a "structured wiring" system:

Component #1 - The Central Hub

A service center will be built inside your home to receive all outside services such as cable, telephone, DSS Satellite, internet, etc. The central hub will resemble the breaker box that receives electrical power from your utility company. The hub will distribute various electronic services to locations throughout your home.

Component #2 - Wires

The electronic service wires are the highway that allows the information to travel within your home. They are different from electrical wires. Electrical service wires are daisy-chained, which means every electrical outlet shares wiring with each adjacent outlet in a daisy chain pattern. This is a poorly structured system due to the fact that if one outlet has a problem, all the outlets that share the wires in that daisy chain can be affected. "Structured wiring" systems run directly from the central hub to each individual service outlet. All wires leave the central hub and run outward. This is called "star wiring" or a "home run" system. The overall wiring scheme resembles a star-shaped pattern and is more efficient and reliable.

Component #3 - Outlets

Outlets can be considered as the off-ramps that let the information exit the electronic highways in your home and arrive at your computers, televisions, telephones, etc... Most homes now only have a single coaxial outlet in each room for cable television. "Structured wiring" can offer you multi-port outlets that provide access to any combination of services(phone, data, video and audio, etc..) to meet the specific needs of every room in your house.