Kazio Networks

While overseeing cable installations, something I have noticed (a lot) is the confusion of what a person calls a RJ45 modular plug when he really means an 8P8C plug.

8P8C means that the connector has eight positions with eight contacts. True RJ45 plugs use 4 pairs and 2 contacts (8P2C keyed with a resistor). They are different.

To clear this up further, the term RJ (or Registered Jack) is used in the telecommunications business to specify the wiring scheme of a FCC registered piece of equipment connected to a PSTN public network. It has nothing to do with the type of jack, or brand of it.

So when one mentions RJ45, he actually means that he needs a 4 pair modular plug for a telecom system (that is rarely used commercially nowadays). 8P8C plugs also do not fit in RJ45 sockets as they are of different sizes.

The terms are often used interchangeably as being one and the same, presumably due to the 8 pin layout and outward resemblance of the two plugs (i.e. the 8P8C and the true RJ45). You will also commonly see it in many catalogs with the wrong term usage. One may argue its abundant usage everywhere (within books, certifications and catalogs etc.) but two wrongs don’t make a right. It’s all about the proper use of terminology.

In summary, RJ45 is a wrong technically term for the plugs we use for crimping an ethernet network cable. The term should be used separately and not together. RJ specifies the mechanical interface only but not the schematic. RJ plugs do not use the same wiring scheme of EIA/TIA 568A/568B (the standard wiring scheme for standard ethernet cable connections).

TIA’s (Telecommunications Industry Association) TIA-1005, the draft standard to help the interoperability of voice and data communications cabling for industry has received its final approval to be published.

The Industrial Cabling Sub-committee received approval to publish ANSI/TIA 1005, Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Industrial Premises, at the October TIA TR-42 TR-42.9 meeting held in Vancouver, BC. TIA-1005 was created to address new structured cabling concepts for industrial installations. Specifically, it addresses the potential exposure of cable to hostile environments, and special cabling system requirements. (Source: Superior Essex)

The standard would be a huge step towards gaining further traction for the use of Ethernet in factory production and manufacturing environments. It will address several areas like the installation and requirements of cables within harsh environments, helping enable the installation of telecommunications infrastructure on the plant floor and between manufacturing/ industrial buildings.

TIA-1005 will introduce a 2 pair cabling installation allowance, a huge difference from the current TIA-568-B 8 pair standard. Also expect the inclusion of cabling concepts for automating outlets, Cat 6 allowance in automation islands; and the definition of the factory floor, work area and automating island using the MICE model/ table.

Using the MICE model, there will be a designation of four environmental areas of which the cable will be subjected to:

The industrial areas and mixed environments are then classified based on the limits of MICE to form the following levels: Mice 1 (commercial/ office environments), Mice 2 (Light industrial/ work areas), and Mice 3 (the automation island/ heavy industrial). The work area would typically be where the control level hardware resides and the automation island would be where the plant floor machines reside. Automation islands are where the harshest environments reside. Duly note that these classifications are concepts and not mandatory requirements.

The TIA-1005 is based on existing cabling standards of ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-B, 606-A; TIA-5690B; ANSI-J-STD-607-A and ISO/IEC11801.