Anixter Standard Reference Guide Emea en Uk - 2019 PDF

EN 50173-1
EN 50173-2
EN 50173-3
EN 50173-4
EN 50173-5
EN 50173-6
EN 50310
EN 50174-1
EN 50174-2
EN 50174-3
EN 50600 SERIES
EUROPEAN STANDARDS
REFERENCE GUIDE
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PURPOSE OF INDUSTRY STANDARDS
Industry standards guide the installation, maintenance and testing of products
and technologies for a variety of security, industrial and enterprise networks.
Today’s standards are designed to provide critical uptime, support mission-
critical applications, create operational efficiencies and increase productivity.
They also allow for open-architecture systems that promote multimanufacturer
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SCOPE OF THIS GUIDE

This document is meant as a reference that highlights the key points of the
EN 50173, 50310, 50174 and 50600-series of standards with applicable
installation and testing requirements.
This standards reference guide is written to provide information on the standards
for cabling installation. The intent is not to replace or remove the need for
sourcing the actual standards, in contrast Anixter recommends every professional
within the industry to ensure they have copies of the full standards. The content in
this guide has been selectively chosen and does not provide enough information
to create technical specifications or ensure compliance with standards. The main
content included in this guide has been based on the 2018 revision of EN 50173
and EN 50174 series of standards. All member countries of CENELEC publish
the standards as a local standard within a defined period after approval. More
information on CENELEC and their work can be found at http://www.cenelec.eu
Member countries in CENELEC are Austria, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia,Cyprus,
the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Abbreviation References
ANSI American National Standards Institute
EN CENELEC
IEC International Electrotechnical Commission
IEEE Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
ISO International Organization for Standardization
NEC National Electrical Code® (NEC®)
NEMA National Electrical Manufacturers Association
NFPA National Fire Protection Association
TIA Telecommunications Industry Association
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Anixter Infrastructure Solutions Lab .................................................4
EN 50173-1, Information technology – Generic cabling systems –
Part 1: General requirements ...............................................................7
Part 2: Office premises ......................................................................19
Part 3: Industrial premises ................................................................28
Part 4: Homes ...................................................................................35
Part 5: Data centres ..........................................................................42
Part 6: Distributed building services ..................................................49
EN 50310 Telecommunications bonding networks for buildings
and other structuress ........................................................................56
EN 50174-1, Information technology – Cabling installation –
Part 1: Installation specification and quality assurance......................63
Part 2: Installation planning and practices inside buildings ...............71
Part 3: Installation planning and practices outside buildings..............84
EN 50600 series - Information technology – Data centre facilities
and infrastructures ............................................................................88
Europe and Middle East Locations Directory ........................................ 99
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EN 50173-1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY—
GENERIC CABLING SYSTEMS
PART 1: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The standard defines the common requirements that are used within
the rest of the EN 50173 series of standards. Some of the areas
defined in this standard are the performance levels of copper and
fibre components, links and channels and the backbone reference
configurations. In addition it also includes tables providing guidance on
supported applications over various cable medias.
Horizontal cabling requirements are found in the specific application
standards describing cabling in offices, industrial premises, homes, data
centres and distributed building services. This means that EN 50173-1
does not include any conformance clause and EN 50173-1 should
therefore always be used in conjunction with e.g. EN 50173-2 for offices
or EN 50173-5 for data centres.

Section Contents
EN 50173-1
Conformance........................................................................... 9
Structure................................................................................. 9
Channel Performance.............................................................. 10
Balanced Cabling Performance............................................... 10
Coaxial Cabling Transmission Performance............................. 12
Optical Fibre Cabling Transmission Performance.................... 12
Referencing Implementation for Backbone Cabling
Subsystems............................................................................. 12
Component Requirements – Cables, Connecting Hardware
and Cords................................................................................ 14
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CONFORMANCE
The EN 50173-1 does not contain a conformance clause. Other
EN 50173-series of design document standards incorporates
the requirements of this standard as part of their conformance
requirements.
Annex I, which is normative, includes requirements and
recommendations on how testing of links and channels should be
done to verify transmission performance in case this is required by the
technical specifications.
STRUCTURE
The standard provides a generic cabling topology with the functional
elements as described below. All premises specific cabling distributors,
named xD, are defined in the EN 50173-2, EN 50173-3, EN 50173-4,
EN 50173-5 and EN 50173-6 standards. Connection between campus,
buildings and premises specific distributors can be made either with an
interconnect or cross-connect approach.
Specific requirements and recommendations for the distributor spaces
and pathways are described in EN 50174-2.
To accommodate a higher resiliency level it should be considered
to implement multiple and physically separated building entrances,
cabling pathways and distributors. Tie cabling, connections between
two separate building or campus distributors, can be implemented to
achieve better redundancy.
CD Campus backbone
cabling system
BD BD Building backbone
cabling subsystem
Premises-specific
xD xD xD xD cabling subsystem(s)
of other
EN 50173 standards

The generic backbone cabling interfaces are named Equipment
interfaces (EI) where test interfaces can support both Permanent link
and Channel testing. Incoming cabling into a facility is typically made
inside the building entrance facility (BEF). This is the point where the
outdoor rated cables are transitioned into an indoor type of cables
unless an indoor/outdoor type of cable construction has been used.
Note that all cables used in permanent installations inside buildings
shall meet the appropriate Euroclass as per the CPR regulations in
Europe.
El El El El
EQP EQP
Tl Tl Tl Tl
Permanent link
Channel
CHANNEL PERFORMANCE
The standard includes a way of describing the environment the cabling
is to be installed in the aspects of the Mechanical, Ingress, Climate
and chemical or Electromagnetic exposure. Using a rating system from
1 to 3 for each aspect can describe the environment the cabling is to
be installed into. An example could be that environment is specified as
M1I1C1E1 which indicates normal office environment or M3I1C1E1 which
would indicate a mechanically exposed area. The required electrical
transmission performance shall be met for the specified environmental
conditions.
BALANCED CABLING PERFORMANCE

Following performance classes for balanced copper cabling are included
in the standard.
Class Specified to
Class A 100 kHz
Class B 1 MHz
Class C 16 MHz
Class D 100 MHz
Class E 250 MHz
Class E A 500 MHz
Class F 600 MHz
Class FA 1000 MHz
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The standard also specifies the performance requirements for Broadcast
and Communications Technologies channels; BCT-B and the Class I, Class
II type of channels.
• B CT-B cabling is further divided into two additional classes
called –L and –M with different insertion loss performance and
is referenced in the design standard for single tenant homes (EN
50173-4).
• C lass I and II are specified up to 2000 MHz and referenced in the
design standard for data centres (EN 50173-5).
Parameters defined for the channel includes the following below. Some
of the performance classes do not include all parameters such as
Power sum NEXT which is not specified for Class A, B and C. The channel
performance can be achieved by the use of shielded or unshielded
cables unless explicitly stated.
• Return Loss
• Insertion Loss
• Pair-to-pair NEXT
• Power sum NEXT
• Attenuation to crosstalk ratio at the near end – ACR-N
• P ower sum attenuation to crosstalk ratio at the near end – PS
ACR-N
• Attenuation to crosstalk ratio at the far end – ACR-F
• Power sum attenuation to crosstalk ratio at the far end – PS ACR-F
• Direct current loop resistance
• Direct current resistance unbalance
• DC current carrying capacity
• Dielectric withstand
• Propagation delay
• Delay skew

• Unbalance attenuation, near-end – TCL
• Unbalance attenuation, far-end – ELTCL
• Coupling attenuation
• Power sum alien NEXT
• PS ANEXTavg
• Power sum alien ACR-F
• PS AACR-Favg
• Alien crosstalk and coupling attenuation for screened channels
COAXIAL CABLING TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE

75 ohm coaxial cables are specified up to 3000 MHz and are called
BCT-C with sub-classes called BCT-C-L and BCT-C-M with the difference
of having different specifications for insertion loss.
OPTICAL FIBRE CABLING TRANMISSION PERFORMANCE

All fibre optic components are specified for their physical construction
and transmission performance. The design of the fibre optic channel
shall match the application requirements and supported lengths as
defined in separate Annex. The total measured channel attenuation
shall be less than the sum of all the components and their allowed
attenuation.
REFERENCE IMPLEMENTATION FOR BACKBONE

CABLING SUBSYSTEMS
The EN 50173-1 standard includes the reference implementations of
the backbone cabling systems. Equivalent information for the horizontal
cabling systems is defined in the other design standards such as EN
50173-2 for offices or EN 50173-5 for data centres. If a full channel
length is required and the applications that run over the cabling
increases the temperature, such as remote powering, it might be needed
to use cables with better (lower) insertion loss as well as review the type
of pathways to be used.
EN 50174-2 provides planning requirements and recommendations
for remote powering applications.
Channel
BD
Backbone cable or
CD
or subsidiary distributor
BD
EQP EQP
Equipment Patch cord/ Patch cord/ Equipment

cord jumper jumper cord
Using the defined channel configurations of components then

• C ategory 5 components should provide Class D balanced
cabling performance
• C ategory 6 components should provide Class E balanced
cabling performance
• C ategory 6A components should provide Class EA balanced
cabling performance
For Class D and higher performance classes, the flexible patch cords
used in a channel are assumed to have up to 50% higher loss than
the cables used in the backbone cabling. The physical length of the
channel shall be max 100 m and shorter if the flexible cords represents
more than totally 10 meters of the channel. If a channel is built with 4
connections then the minimum backbone length should be at least 15
meters.
As for fibre optic cabling channels the component selections will dictate
the supported applications. A separate Annex of the standard defines the
supported lengths and the allowed losses. The standard recognises that
additional connections could be implemented in a channel, especially
with the use of pre-terminated fibre systems due to its flexibility, and this
is allowed. However, planning needs to be done to ensure the maximum
channel insertion loss is not exceeded. It might also be necessary
to reduce the supported applications lengths to accommodate the
introduced additional losses.

COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS – CABLES, CONNECTING
HARDWARE AND CORDS
For copper cabling the EN 50173-1 specifies the necessary detailed
component requirements at 20 °C for cables, connecting hardware
and cords that could be used when creating a cabling link or channel.
Using components meeting these defined requirements should mean
that channel performance requirements are met when using the defined
reference implementations. Elevating the temperature in operative mode
will increase the insertion loss of the installed balanced cabling and
length reductions will apply. Formulas how to calculate this are included
in EN 50173-1.
The standard states that if a channel is constructed entirely of
components meeting component requirements and installed in a
M1I1C1E1 environment then the channel transmission performance is
assumed to be met based on a statistical approach of performance
modelling.
Mechanical and electrical performance of all recognised balanced
cables shall meet EN 50288-1 and the applicable requirements defined
for both installation cables and flexible cables for the various cable
categories (e.g. EN 50288-10-1 specifies shielded Cat 6A installation
cables).
BCT-C coaxial cables shall meet requirements defined in EN 50117-4-1
as well as additional specifications defined in EN 50173-1.
The cabled optical fibre are specified with different categories; OM3,
OM4, OM5, OS1a and OS2. The different categories reflect attenuation
performance as well as bandwidth requirements and are highlighted in
the table below. The specifications for OS1a are to provide support for
traditional indoor single-mode cables with tight buffer construction and
OS2 typically is referenced for outdoor cables, the difference is the cable
construction and the resulting attenuation.
Additional performance requirements are referenced for each category
to published EN standards such as EN 60794 EN 60793-2-10, EN
60793-2-50 and EN 60793-1-44 and covers numerical aperture and
measurement standards.
Cabled Optical Maximum attenuation Maximum modal bandwith
optical fibre of dB/km MHz x km
fibre EN
Category 60793-2-10 Overfilled launch Effective modal
bandwith
(See NOTE)
850 nm 1300 nm 850 nm 953 nm 1300 nm 850 nm 953 nm
OM3 A1a.2 3,5 1,5 1 500 - 500 2 000 -
OM4 A1a.3 3,5 1,5 3 500 - 500 4 700 -
OM5c A1a.4 3,0 1,5 3 500 1 850 500 4 700 2 470
NOTE This bandwith is based on application=specific implementation of the effective modal bandwith (EMBc) requirements
of EN 60793-2-10
Table 1 – Cabled multimode optical fibre performance requirements
Wavelength Maximum attenuation

nm dB/km
Category OS1a Category OS2
1 310 1,0 0,4
1 383 1,0 0,4
1 550 1,0 0,4
Table 2 – Cabled single-mode optical fibre performance requirements
Connecting hardware requirements for balanced cabling specifies that

plug and jack are physically intermateable and shall be backwards
compatible with different categories. I.e. a Category 8.1 jack mated with
a Category 6A plug should be providing a Category 6A performance.

Free Modular connector Category
connector
Category Category Category Category Category Category Category
5 6 6A 8.1 7 7A 8.2
Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5
Category 6 Category 5 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6
Category 6A Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 6A Category Category

6A 6A 6A 6A
Category 8.1 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 6A Category Category

6A 8.1 6A 8.1
Category 7 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category 7 Category 7

6A 6A
Category 7A Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category Category

6A 6A 7A 7A
Category 8.2 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category Category

6A 8.1 7A 8.2
Table 3 – Backwards compatibility matrix
The optical fibre connectors and adapters should, in unmated state,

be protected from dust. Connector end-faces shall be inspected and
cleaned if necessary. After cleaning has been performed, the end-faces
shall again be inspected to verify the cleanliness.
It is recommended, not required, that consistent colour coding to be
used to identify multimode optical fibre types and connecting hardware.
Some examples would be blue for single mode connectors and green
for APC connectivity. As for the mechanical and optical performance all
connectors shall meet relevant part of the EN 61754 series of standards
describing SC, LC, MPO and other types of connectivity.
Attenuation of the optical fibre connecting hardware require that mated
connectors shall never exceed 0,75 dB and a splice shall introduce less
than 0,3 dB. In addition Return Loss performance are also specified
which dictates minimum values for multimode, single-mode PC and
single-mode APC connecting hardware.
The optical fibres shall be assigned as per illustrations. EN 50174-1
provides additional information on polarity maintenance throughout the
system.
B A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
12-fibre interface
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
24-fibre interface
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Front view of fixed connector
(duplex adapter)
Figure 1 – Optical fibre assignments for connecting hardware for 12 and 24

optical fibres (front view of fixed or free connector)
The EN 60603-7 series of standards includes specifications for balanced

cabling connecting hardware and includes specifications for unscreened
and screened connecting hardware ranging from Category 5 to Category
8.2. Some common connectors would be:
Category and type Standard

Category 6 unscreened EN 60603-7-4
Category 6 screened EN 60603-7-5
Category 6A unscreened EN 60603-7-41
Category 6A screened EN 60603-7-51
Full list of corresponding connector standards are found in EN 50173-1

Balanced cords shall be identified to indicate the performance category,
design insertion loss ratio of the cable, length and wire-map information
in case a non-pin-pin relationship is used (like in cross-over cords).
Cords shall also meet requirements for RL and NEXT and be measured in
accordance with EN 61935-2.
Optical fibre cords shall each be identified to indicate the category of
the cable, length and port-map status if the polarity doesn’t reflect a
direct port relationship.

A separate annex includes testing procedures to verify channel and link
compliance with the EN 50173 standards. The annex do not replace
the technical specifications and it’s requirements on testing but can be
referenced if needed.
Two types of test regimes for balanced cabling and optical fibre cabling
are defined;
• R eference conformance testing. This is typically performed in lab
environments and is used to compare measurements between lab
equipment and field test equipment and assess cabling models in
lab environment.
• Installation conformance testing. As the name indicates this can
be used to verify an installed cabling installation that it meets
performance criteria’s defined in EN 50173. Testing is however not
a requirement of the EN 50173 series.
Several annexes are included in the standard providing informative and
normative information on link performance, requirements on balanced
connecting hardware, EMC characteristics and information on supported
applications for various media.
Below are a simplified extract from the standard with applications,
supported lengths and allowed loss for the channel.
Cabled Optical Fibre Category

λ OM3 OM4 OM5
Network Application
nm
CIL L CIL L CIL L
dB m dB m dB m
ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 2,60 300 2,90 400 2,90 400

Clause 52: 10 GBASE-SR/SW
ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,90 100 1,50 150 1,50 150

Clause 86: 40 GBASE-SR4
ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,80 70 1,90 100 1,90 100

ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,90 100 1,50 150 1,50 150

Full applications table over the various media are found in the standard.
This includes the various Fibre Channel, PoE types, Analogue and Digital
TV, industrial protocols and IEEE applications.
PART 2: OFFICE PREMISES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

This standard specified the cabling designs for office premises which
can consist of single or multiple buildings on a campus. Cabling
specified can be used for a variety of services including data, voice,
video but also incorporate the supply of power.
Content of the EN 50173-2 includes the structure of the cabling designs
in office premises, how the interface at the telecommunications outlet
should be presented, performance requirements for cabling links and
channels, implementation requirements and options, conformance
requirements and verification procedures.

Section Contents
EN 50173-2
Conformance........................................................................... 21
Structure.................................................................................. 22
Reference Implementations.................................................... 25
and Cords................................................................................ 27
CONFORMANCE
The conformance clause includes the requirements such as the
structure and configuration of the cabling system to meet requirements
specified as well as the channel to perform to specified requirements
when subject to the environment conditions. Meeting the channel
requirements can be achieved by one of several defined options:
• D esigning and implementing as per requirements
for the channel requirements section
• A ttaching appropriate components to a CP link or
permanent link design that comply with the link performance
requirements. Channel performance shall be ensured when
adding one or more cords to either end of the link.
• U sing the reference implementations defined with
components meeting the component requirement sections
and installed in E1 environment. This option is based upon
a statistical approach of performance modelling.
Further it specifies the interfaces at the telecommunications
outlet, TO be EN 60603-7 (8P8C) for balanced copper cabling
links and EN 61754-20 compatible LC duplex interface (existing
SC duplex installations may continue with SC duplex if additions
are made). Connecting hardware at other places in the cabling
installations shall meet relevant component requirements.
Installations shall further meet the requirements of EN 50174 and

EN 50310 as well as applicable local regulations.
The conformance clause do not outline how testing should be applied.
The technical specifications and quality plan shall detail how this
should be performed.

STRUCTURE
The EN 50173-2 specifies the following elements: floor distributor (FD),
horizontal cable, consolidation point (CP), consolidation point cable and
the telecommunications outlet (TO) or Multi-User Telecommunications
outlet (MUTO). Other backbone requirements (building and campus) are
defined in the EN 50173-1 standard.
CD BD FD CP TO TE
Campus Building Horizontal cabling subsystem Work area

backbone backbone cabling
cabling cabling
subsystem subsystem
Generic cabling system
If redundancy is required then additional distributors are allowed to

provide this feature.
Multiple Multiple
external service external service
providers providers
CD1 CD2
Campus backbone
cabling subsystem
BD1 BD2 BD1 BD2

Building backbone
cabling subsystem
FD FD FD FD
Horizontal
cabling subsystem
TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO TO
Building 1 Building 2
Basic hierarchy cables

Additional cables for improved reliability
Tie cables for improved reliability
If design requirements include the use the of optical fibre cabling to the
TO then this is allowed. The standards require minimum Class E in the
horizontal cabling system. If the client require speeds higher that 1Gb/s
during the lifetime of the cabling then higher performing cabling should
be considered, e.g. Class EA.
It is recommended that every floor in a building to house a distributor
but if sparesly populated a distributor can support neighbouring floors.
The coverage area for a distrubutior should be less than 1000 m2.
The distributor space requirements are defined in EN 50174-2.
CP
TO
FD
CP
TO
FD
Campus
backbone
BEF cable
TO
FD
CD/BD
External network
Figure 2 – Accommodation of functional elements
The general requirements states that every individual work area shall
be configured with minimum of one TO where the outlets shall be
cabled with a four-pair balanced cable (all pairs terminated at the TO)
or optical fibres and any additional outlets be either another four-pair
balanced cable (two- or four pairs terminated at the TO – if solution
meets design objectives and applications) or an optical fibre terminated
with LC-duplex connectivity. If baluns, impedance matching devices are
used then they will be external to the TO.
In some deployments, e.g. open offices, an assembly of TOs can be
installed to serve up to 12 work areas. These are called MUTOs (Multi-
user Telecommunications Outlet assembly).

In open office installation the usage of a Consolidation Point (CP)
provides flexibility of relocating TOs. The standard allows one CP between
the FD and the TO and shall not include any active equipment or be
used as a cross-connect. Similar requirements as the multi-user TO are
required for the CP such as recommended 12 work areas and be located
accessible.
CHANNEL PERFORMANCE
All balanced cabling installed in the backbone, channel and link,
shall perform to any of the classes A to FA as per the requirements in
EN 50173-1. The fibre optic backbone, channel and link, shall consist
of components that supports the applications and the required channel
lengths. Office space is typically meeting M1I1C1E1 environment
specifications.
The horizontal balanced cabling subsystem is required to minimum
meet Class E channel as specified in EN 50173-1 if data rates are
expected to be up to 1Gb/s during the life time of the cabling. If data
rates is assumed to be higher than 1Gb/s then Class EA or higher
should be implemented.
Any horizontal fibre optic cabling shall be designed to minimum
requirements for the applications to be supported. Minimum
performance is OM3.
Channel
FD
EQP TE
CP TO
(optional)
Equipment Patch cord/ Work area
cord jumper cord
Figure 3 – Example of a horizontal cabling channel
REFERENCE IMPLEMENTATIONS
Reference implementations with components meeting individual
requirements for cables, connecting hardware and cords and installed
with the requirements defined in EN 50174 series of standards should
meet applicable channel requirements.
The selection of components will determine which cabling class being
met. Using the defined models then Category 6 components will provide
Class E balanced cabling channel performance, Category 6A or Category
8.1 will provide Class EA balanced cabling channel performance and
so on.
For the Horizontal Cabling, various implementations can be installed.
• Interconnect - TO
• Cross-connect - TO
• Interconnect – CP - TO
• Cross-connect – CP - TO
Using these defined implementations in combination with the reference

implementation clause gives a few length requirements that all
mathematical modelling is based on. One example is that minimum
cable length from FD to TO when a CP is installed is 15 meters. Other
length restrictions also apply, the full list is found within the standard.
The standard also includes the mathematical models used to validate
the channel performance when using standards compliant components.
They can provide guidance on various implementations of channels
and permanent links. The reference implementations are based on an
operating temperature of 20 °C. If other higher operating temperatures
is expected then formulas exists on how to de-rate the total channel
lengths allowing for the increased insertion loss. Consult the standard
or the cabling manufacturer for more detailed information.

Optical fibre cabling deployments can be done in several ways.
The standard specifies three different models that could be used.
• P atched channel
• S pliced channel
• D irect channel, do not require an FD.
Channel
Horizontal
Backbone cable cable
EQP TE
CP TO
CP
BD FD Patch cord/ cable Work area
jumper cord
EQP TE
TO
Equipment Patch cord/
cord jumper Horizontal cable
a) "Patched" combined channel
Channel
Backbone cable Horizontal cable
EQP TE
CP TO
CP
BD FD cable Work area
cord
EQP TE
TO
cord jumper Horizontal cable
b) "Spliced" combined channel
Channel
Backbone/horizontal cable
EQP TE
CP TO
CP
BD FD cable Work area
cord
EQP TE
TO
Backbone/horizontal cable
cord jumper c) "Direct" combined channel
Figure 4 – Combined optical fibre backbone/horizontal channels
COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS –
CABLES, CONNECTING HARDWARE AND CORDS
The standard includes the requirements for the balanced
cables, optical fibre cables, connecting hardware and cords
if used in reference implementations. The minimum electrical
performance for balanced cables shall be Category 6 and better.
Cabled optical fibre shall meet OM3 or better category.

PART 3: INDUSTRIAL PREMISES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE EN 50173-3 STANDARD

The EN 50173-3 is the design standard for generic cabling within
industrial premises or when specifying automation islands. The standard
could also be referenced where industrial areas are present in other
types of premises.
The EN 50173-3 includes references to the EN 50173-1 standards
and cover; structure, interfaces at the telecommunications outlet (TO),
implementation options and performance requirements on
components, links and channel configurations.
This guide only provides a high level overview of the content of the
standard and it is understood that the full standard document
should be purchased for proper usage.
CON
Section Contents
EN 50173-3
Conformance........................................................................... 32
Structure.................................................................................. 32
Reference Implementations.................................................... 35
and Cords................................................................................ 36

CONFORMANCE
• Designing and implementing as per requirements
for the channel requirements section
• Attaching appropriate components to a CP link or
permanent link design that comply with the link performance
requirements. Channel performance shall be ensured when
adding one or more cords to either end of the link.
• Using the reference implementations defined with
components meeting the component requirement sections
and installed in E1 environment. This option is based upon
a statistical approach of performance modelling.
Further it specifies the interfaces at the TO be EN 60603-7 or EN
61076-2-109 for copper cabling links and IEC 61754-20 compatible LC
duplex interface (existing SC duplex installations may continue with SC
duplex if additions are made). Connecting hardware at other places in
the cabling installations shall meet relevant component requirements.
Installations shall further meet the requirements of EN 50174
series and EN 50310. Local regulations shall always be met.
The conformance clause do not outline how testing should
be applied. The technical specifications and quality
plan shall detail how this should be performed.
STRUCTURE
The backbone structure defined in the EN 50173-1 is applicable for
industrial cabling deployments. Up to four levels of subsystems are
allowed due to the introduction of the Intermediate Cabling subsystem.
The ID can either be located in a designated distributor space but
can also be located physically on an automation island and then
connect to the TO’s. Anything connected to the TO is considered
application specific and is outside the scope of the standard.
Intermediate cabling provides maximum flexibility and ability to
support applications and changing needs. TOs with redundancy
needs can be achieved by implementing additional distributors. It is
recommended that the intermediate cabling terminates all 4 pairs
at the TO and ID to support a broad set of applications but 2-pair
interfaces in those areas are allowed if cable sharing is needed.
TOs can be installed in groups or individual outlets. Every TE
location shall be supported with a minimum of one TO. If baluns,
impedance matching devices are used then they shall be external
to the TO. A consolidation point is allowed between the ID and the
TO. The CP is recommended to max serve 24 TOs, should located in
accessible locations and be properly labeled. Note that a CP may
require additional length of the cabling due to the close proximity of
connections. See guidance in the reference implementations section.
CP TE
CD BD FD ID
TO
Apparatus
NI
TO
NI Automation
island
TO
Campus Building Floor Intermediate

backbone backbone cabling cabling Apparatus
cabling cabling subsystem subsystem attachment
subsystem subsystem cabling
Figure 5 – Structure of generic cabling
CHANNEL AND PERMANENT LINK

All balanced cabling installed in the backbone, channel and link, shall
perform to any of the classes A to FA as per the requirements in EN
50173-1. The fibre optic backbone, channel and link, shall consist of
components that supports the applications and the required channel
lengths. Typically cabling spaces typically meeting MI1C1E1 environment
specifications but industrial environments likely will require tougher
specifications such as M2I2C2E2 for light industrial environments and
M3I3C3E3 for heavy industrial environments.

The tougher installation environment might only apply to parts of the
installation, e.g the connecting hardware in both ends of the cabling
might terminate within protective closures and therefore that
environment is M1I1C1E1 but the cable might pass through the harsh
industrial environment of M3I3C3E3.
The floor and intermediate cabling subsystem is required to
minimum meet Class D channel as specified in EN 50173-1.
Any horizontal fibre optic cabling shall be designed to minimum
requirements for the applications to be supported. Minimum
performance is OM3.
A channel can consist of intermediate cabling only, floor cabling only,
building backbone only or a combination of all above. The number of
connections, cable lengths, performance of the components and what
sort of environment surrounding will dictate the applications supported.
Channel
ID
EQP NI
Equipment Patch cord/ optional CP TO
cord jumper Apparatus attachment
cord IEC
Channel
Floor Cable
FD ID
EQP EQP
Equipment Patch cord/ Patch cord/ Equipment
cord jumper jumper cord
IEC
with the requirements defined in EN 50174 series of standards should
meet applicable channel requirements.
Class D balanced cabling channel performance, Category 6A will provide
Class EA balanced cabling channel performance and so on.
For the Intermediate Cabling, various implementations can be installed.
• Interconnect - TO
• Cross-connect - TO
• Interconnect – CP - TO
• Cross-connect – CP - TO
and permanent links. The reference implementations are based on
an operating temperature of 20 °C. If other operating temperatures
lengths allowing for the increased insertion loss. Consult the standard or
the cabling manufacturer for more detailed information.
For the floor cabling subsystem, the selection of components will dictate
the support of applications.
The maximum number of connections in the channel is four, meaning a
channel configuration can consist of two cross-connects on each end
of the channel but no CP is then allowed. The maximum physical length
of the channel is 100 metres. The standard includes a guide how to
calculate maximum distance given the number of connections, category
of components and the length of flexible cords (which allows higher
insertion loss).

HARDWARE AND CORDS
Balanced cables, optical fibre cables, connecting hardware and cords
shall all meet applicable requirements defined in EN 50173-1.
Work area cords shall only be made of flexible cables as defined in
EN 50173-1 with the allowance of having 50% higher loss than
installation cables.
If the environmental classification dictates a higher protection of
the connecting hardware then suitable housings meeting the MICE
requirements shall be used.
For 4-pair terminations, the TO shall meet either EN 60603-7 series of
standards or the EN 61076-2-109 (8-pole, Type X-coding). In case cable
sharing is required and is valued higher than backward compability then
the EN 61076-3-104 can be used.
Where the TO is required only for 2-pair terminations then connectors
can be either the EN 60603-7-4 series or the EN 61076-2-101 (Type D).
Optical connectors at the TO are specified to be IEC 61754-20
(LC connectors).
Additional annexes are included further describing performance limits
and alternative cabling implementations and more.
PART 4: HOMES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

single-tenant home where a home can be within a building that includes
several homes. The content includes balanced cabling, optical fibre
cabling and coaxial cabling that shall support ICT (Information and
Communications Technologies) and should support BCT (Broadcast
and Communications Technologies) applications.
The EN 50173-4 includes references to the EN 50173-4 standard
and cover; structure, interfaces at the telecommunications outlet (TO)
and broadcast outlets (BO), implementation options and performance
requirements on components, links and channel configurations.
standard and it is understood that the full standard document should
be purchased for proper usage.

Section Contents
EN 50173-4
Conformance........................................................................... 39
Structure................................................................................. 39
Channel and Permanent Link................................................... 41
Reference Implementations..................................................... 41
and Cords................................................................................ 42
CONFORMANCE
• D esigning and implementing as per requirements for the channel
requirements section
• A ttaching appropriate components to a CP link or permanent
link design that comply with the link performance requirements.
Channel performance shall be ensured when adding one or more
cords to either end of the link.
• U sing the reference implementations defined with components
meeting the component requirement sections and installed in
E1 environment. This option is valid only for the TO (not BO) and
based upon a statistical approach of performance modelling.
Installations shall further meet the requirements of EN 50174 series of
standards and the EN 50310.
The interfaces at the TO and BO shall conform to the general connecting
hardware requirements.
The technical specifications and quality plan shall detail how this should
be performed.
STRUCTURE
The EN 50173-4 specifies the following elements: primary home
distributor (PHD), primary home cable, secondary home distributor
(SHD), secondary home cable and the BO/TO. Depending of the
installation the Secondary Home Cabling Subsystem may not be
implemented. If a bus topology is needed then this shall be achieved
at the SHD/PHD level.

PHD SHD BO/TO
TE
Primary home cabling Secondary home cabling Equipment

subsystem subsystem cabling
IEC
Figure 6 – Structure of the generic cabling system
PHD PHD
Primary home Primary home
cabling cabling subsubsystem
subsubsystem
SHD SHD
Secondary home
cabling subsubsystem
TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO TO/BO
IEC
Figure 7 – Hierarchical structure of a generic cabling system

in support of ICT and BCT applications
Application outlets serving ICT channels only are termed TO and outlets
supporting BCT channels are termed BO. The number of outlets in a
building are defined by the size of rooms and functionality needed.
Application outlets shall be installed with a minimum of one TO and
should include one BO in areas up to 10m2. Additional areas with
10m2 increments gets additional number of applications. As an
example, a 43m2 room could have 5 TOs and 5 BOs and be grouped so
each location includes a TO and a BO and evenly spaced around the
perimeter of the room.
The TOs should terminate all four pairs but two pairs per TO is allowed if
the design objectives dictates so. BOs using balanced BCT cable should
terminate the four pairs but two pair terminations are allowed in case
the design specifies so. BOs using coaxial cables shall be terminated as
per manufacturers requirements.
Cabling inside homes typically meet M1I1C1E1 environment
specifications. Channels from the PHD/SHD to the TO shall meet a
minimum of Class D performance.
Channels from the PHD/SHD to the BO shall provide BCT-B performance
and specified in EN 50173-1. It is recognised that signal levels may vary
and the standards specified two variants of BCT channels with different
insertion loss performance. BCT-B-L supports BCT applications from 47
MHz to 862 MHz without the need of any compensation but BCT-B-M
will require compensations. Similar options exist for the BCT-C where the
BCT-C-L can distribute BCT applications without any compensation but
BCT-C-M will require compensation. More information on this topic can
be found in the CLC/TR 50173-99-2. Longer channel implementations
will require system engineering.
Any fibre optic cabling shall be designed to minimum requirements for
the applications to be supported. Minimum performance is OM3.
Cabling type
ICT BCT-B BCT-C
-L 11,8 m -L 34 m
100 m
-M 25 m -M 73 m
NOTE 1: -L channels allow BCT applications across the frequency range 47 MHz to 862 MHz to
be distributed without any compensation, whereas -M channels require compensation across that
frequency range of up to 6 dB.
NOTE 2: Reference implementations are not intended to restrict the use of shorter lengths.
Table 4 – Maximum channel lengths for reference implementations of ICT/BCT channels
Class D balanced cabling performance, Category 6A will provide Class EA
balanced cabling performance and so on given that installations have
been in accordance with the EN 50174 series.

PHD/SHD Terminal
Equipment equipment
cord cord
EQP TE
BO/TO
Channel
a) Model with two connections
PHD SHD Terminal

Equipment Patch cord/ equipment
cord jumper cord
EQP TE
BO/TO
Channel
b) Model with four connections
Figure 8 – Reference implementations for ICT and BCT channels (PHD/SHD to TO/BO)
The cabling between the PHD/SHD and the BO/TO can be achieved
with a 2-connection or 4-connection channel. The standard provides
guidance on how to calculate maximum link lengths given the different
deployment options. Guidance also exists for optical fibre cabling
implementations.

HARDWARE AND CORDS
shall all meet applicable requirements defined in EN 50173-1. Work
area cords shall only be made of flexible cables as defined in EN
50173-1 with the allowance of having 50% higher loss than balanced
If the environmental classification dictates a higher protection of
the connecting hardware then suitable housings meeting the MICE
requirements shall be used.
The TO must meet EN 60603-7 series of standards. The BO shall be a
fixed connector in accordance with EN 61076-3-104 alternatively other
connectors if interoperability requirements dictates. Detailed information
is found within the EN 50173-4. If optical TO’s/BO’s are implemented
then the interface shall be the EN 61754-20, interface 20-5 which is
LC duplex.
Coaxial connecting hardware for BCT-C channels shall meet EN 61169-2
(Type 9,52) or EN 61169-24 (Type F)
All types of cords should be factory-terminated.
Separate annexes are included providing information on e.g. link
performance limits, application specific networks and local country
deviations

PART 5: DATA CENTRES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

computer rooms spaces. The standard reference to the EN 50173-1
standards and cover; structure, interfaces at the equipment outlets
and the external network interfaces, implementation options and
performance requirements on components, links and channel
configurations.
Section Contents
EN 50173-5
Conformance........................................................................... 46
Structure................................................................................. 46
and Cords................................................................................ 49

CONFORMANCE
• A ttaching appropriate components to a CP link or permanent
link design that comply with the Link performance requirements.
meeting the component requirement sections and installed in E1
environment. This option is based upon a statistical approach of
performance modelling.
standards and the EN 50310. The conformance clause do not outline
how testing should be applied. The technical specifications and quality
plan shall detail how this should be performed.
STRUCTURE
The EN 50173-5 specifies the following elements: external network
interface (ENI), network access cable, main distributor (MD), main
distributor cable, intermediate distributor (ID), intermediate distribution
cable, zone distributor (ZD), zone distributor cable, local distribution
point (LDP), local distribution point cable, equipment outlet (EO).
Other backbone requirements (building and campus) are defined in
the EN 50173-1 standard. The requirements for the equipment or
telecommunications rooms where the distributors are located are
specified in EN 50174 series.
ENI MD ID ZD LD P EO
EQP
Distributor of other
standards in the
EN 50173 series
Network Main distribution Intermediate Zone distribution Equipment
access cabling distribution cabling subsystem cabling
cabling subsystem cabling
subsystem subsystem
The number of subsystems that are included depends on the design

and layout of the data centre. Functions of multiple distributors can be
combined. Other building and campus backbone distributors are defined
in the EN 50173-1 standard.
It is recommended that consideration should be given to improve the
resiliency to include redundant and physically separated spaces and
distributors. Cabling between distributors should also be diversely
routed to improve resiliency. The EN 50600-2-4 provides additional
information on how resiliency can be achieved by using the defined
availability classes.
Tie cabling, between distributors, are not part of the structure in
the standard but can be implemented in case security or reliability
needs dictate.
The LDP can be useful if frequent additions or movement of equipment
is anticipated. Only one LDP is permitted between the ZD and any EO.
Also, the LDP shall not include any active equipment and shall also
be an interconnect. Care should be taken for the effect of multiple
connections in close proximity for balanced cabling, see the reference
implementation section.
A building entrance facility (BEF) are often required when an outdoor
rated cable are brought into a building. The BEF allows the external
cable to be transitioned into an indoor rated cable. If an indoor/outdoor
rated cable is used then this transition is not needed. Local regulations
may dictate in more detail on how outdoor cables can be brought
into buildings.
Note that all cables used in permanent installations inside buildings
shall meet the appropriate Euroclass as per the CPR regulations in
Europe.

External service cabling Network access cabling
(beyond the scope of this standard)
Interconnection
ENI
Crossconnection
ENI
EQP
ENI
Passive or active equipment enabling
connection of network access
cabling to external service cabling

The balanced cabling subsystems in the main, intermediate and
distribution cabling shall be designed to provide minimum Class EA
Channel performance as per requirements defined in EN 50173-1. It is
noted that some applications may require channels of Class I or Class II.
Network access cabling shall meet minimum Class D or better.
The optical fibre cabling shall be using the optical categories defined
in EN 50173-1. This includes any of the following; OM3, OM4, OM5,
OS1a or OS2. The channel lengths shall be designed to support the
applications needed. Guidance on lengths and channel attenuation
are found in EN 50173-1, Annex F.
with the requirements defined in EN 50174 series should meet
applicable channel requirements.
met. Using the defined models then Category 6A components will provide
Class EA balanced cabling performance, Category 8.1 products will
provide Class I, Category 8.2 products will provide Class II performance.
Category 6A components will allow Class EA channels constructed
with 4 connectors. Category 8.1 or Category 8.2 will only support
2-connection channel models, Class I and Class II.
For the Zone Distribution Cabling, various implementations can
be installed.
• Interconnect - EO
• Cross-connect - EO
• Interconnect – LDP - EO
• Cross-connect – LDP - EO

implementation clause gives a few lengths requirements that all
mathematical modelling is based on. When an LDP is part of the channel
then the length between ZD to LDP should be at least 15 metres.
lengths allowing for the increased insertion loss. Consult the standard or
the cabling manufacturer for more detailed information.
Class EA, F and FA Channels shall not exceed 100 metres. Class I and II
Channels shall not exceed 30 metres. Note that Class I and Class II only
can be implemented in a 2-connection channel (Interconnect-EO).

HARDWARE AND CORDS
Balanced cables, optical fibre cables, connecting hardware and
cords shall all meet applicable requirements defined in EN 50173-1.
Equipment cords shall only be made of flexible cables as defined in EN
50173-1 with the allowance of having 50% higher loss than balanced
Balanced cabling between distributors shall be made with components
meeting at least Category 6A performance to achieve Class EA link or
channel performance. Balanced cabling connecting hardware at the EO
shall meet minimum EN 60603-7-41 or EN 60603-7-51.

The optical performance of cabled optical fibres shall meet minimum
OM3 performance. The EO shall consist of one or two single- or
multimode EN 61754-20 LC interfaces. Terminations of more than two
optical fibres shall be of an MPO style of connector (one row or two rows
of 12 fibres). The ENI interface shall be an angled face connection
(EN 61754-20, LC interface) with a minimum RL performance of 55dB.
All cords should be factory manufactured.
Annexes are includes providing information on link performance
limits, high density connecting hardware for optical fibre cabling and
combinations of balanced cabling links.
PART 6: DISTRIBUTED BUILDING SERVICES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The EN 50173-6 is the design standard for generic cabling for
distributed building services. Examples of services that can utilise this
cabling includes wireless access points, distributed antenna systems,
energy management, access control, security systems and more.
The standard references to the EN 50173-1 standards and cover;
structure, interfaces at the service outlets (SO), implementation
options and performance requirements on components, links and
channel configurations. Cabling according to EN 50173-6 can be used
as an overlay to cabling in accordance with EN 50173-2 to -5 or as its
own standalone cabling system.

Section Contents
EN 50173-6
Conformance........................................................................... 53
Structure................................................................................. 53
and Cords................................................................................ 57
CONFORMANCE
• A ttaching appropriate components to a SCP link or permanent
link design that comply with the Link performance requirements.
meeting the component requirement sections and installed in E1
environment. This option is based upon a statistical approach of
performance modelling.
standards and the EN 50310. The interfaces at the SO shall conform to
the general connecting hardware requirements.
The technical specifications and quality plan shall detail how this should
be performed.
STRUCTURE
All subsystems and interfaces from the floor distributor to the campus
distributors described in EN 50173-1 are applicable. In addition to
these elements the EN 50173-6 defines additional two implementations
of cabling
• Type A cabling to the SO
• Type B cabling to the SCP which allows application specific cabling
to be installed between the SCP and terminal equipment as well
as application specific equipment to be connected to the SCP.
The application-specific cabling is not part of the standard.

Type A cabling is defined as following
CD BD SD SCP
SO
TE
Campus Building Service distribution cabling subsystem Service

backbone backbone area cabling
cabling cabling
subsystem subsystem
Type B cabling is defined as following
CD BD SD SCP
TE TE connection
directly attached
to cabling
TE
Campus Building Service distribution Application-specific cabling

backbone backbone cabling subsystem (outside the scope
cabling cabling of this standard)
subsystem subsystem
Building and backbone cabling systems are covered in EN 50173-1.

Planning and design in order to support remote powering techniques
shall be made in accordance with EN 50174-1 and EN 50174-2. To
achieve a higher level of resiliency it is recommended to implement
redundant spaces, pathways, cabling and distributors. Specific
requirements for distributor spaces are defined in EN 50174-2.
An SCP in a Type A deployment shall not be used to insert any
transmission equipment. However, this is allowed in a Type B
deployment. Any cabling leaving the SCP in Type B deployments are
not part of the scope of the standard and are considered application
specific. This means any type of bus, loop, tree and branch style of
cabling can be implemented from the SCP area.
TE
TE
TE
Tree
and
branch
Network conversion interface TE
TE
TE
TE Star
SD SCP TE TE TE TE Bus
TE
TE
Loop
Figure 9 – Accommodation of TEs (Type B generic cabling)
Camera
SD SCP
Application-specific cabling
Figure 10 – Example of direct connection to SCP
Service outlets (SO) in Type A deployments shall have minimum one per
serviced area and shall terminate either a four pair balanced cable or an
optical fibre cable. If baluns, impedance matching devices are used then
they shall be external to the SO
In Type B deployments, service connection points (SCP) shall be located
so that each service area is served by at least one SCP. A SCP should be
limited to servicing a maximum of 36 SOs.

The balanced cabling subsystem in the service distribution cabling,
Type A, cabling shall be designed to provide minimum Class EA channel
performance as per requirements defined in EN 50173-1.
The balanced cabling subsystem in the service distribution cabling,
Type B, cabling shall be designed to provide minimum Class EA link
performance as per requirements defined in EN 50173-1.
Backbone cabling shall provide at least Class A channel performance
or higher.
The optical fibre cabling shall be using the optical categories defined
in EN 50173-1. This includes any of the following; OM3, OM4, OM5,

OS1a or OS2. The channel lengths shall be designed to support the
applications needed. Guidance on lengths and channel attenuation are
found in EN 50173-1, Annex F.
requirements for cable, connecting hardware and cords and installed
with the requirements defined in EN 50174 series should meet
applicable channel requirements.
met. Using the defined models then Category 6A components will provide
Class EA balanced cabling performance.
For the Service Distribution Cabling – Type A - various implementations
can be installed.
• Interconnect - SO
• Cross-connect - SO
• Interconnect – SCP-SO
• Cross-connect – SCP-SO
implementation clause gives a few lengths requirements that all
mathematical modelling is based on. When an SCP is part of the channel
then the length between FD to SCP should be at least 15 metres.
lengths allowing for the increased insertion loss. Consult the standard
or the cabling manufacturer for more detailed information.
HARDWARE AND CORDS
shall all meet applicable requirements defined in EN 50173-1. Work
area cords are assumed to be made of flexible cables as defined in
EN 50173-1 with the allowance of having 50% higher loss than balanced
Balanced cabling between distributors shall be made with components
meeting at least Category 6A performance to achieve Class EA link or
channel performance. Balanced cabling connecting hardware at the EO
shall meet minimum EN 60603-7-41 or equivalent.
The optical performance of cabled optical fibres shall meet minimum
OM3 performance. The EO shall consist of one or two single- or
multimode EN 61754-20 LC interfaces. Terminations of more than two
optical fibres shall be of an MPO style of connector (one row or two rows
of 12 fibres). The ENI interface shall be an angled face connection
(EN 61754-20, LC interface) with a minimum RL performance of 55dB.
All cords should be factory manufactured.
Separate annexes are included providing e.g. link performance limits,
services and applications, concept with overlay. The annex with services
and applications contain specific information and recommendations
for various services such as door entry controls, surveillance cameras,
audio-visual, energy management, wireless access points and more
which can be used to discuss the design with the owner. The number of
supported applications will dictate the design, pathways, numbers and
locations of SCPs and SOs. Further it outlines recommendations for SCP
grid density and cabling provision.

EN 50310 TELECOMMUNICATIONS
BONDING NETWORKS FOR BUILDINGS AND
OTHER STRUCTURES
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The EN 50310 includes assessment criteria’s to ensure the relevant
bonding configurations are appropriate. This means that either the
existing protective bonding network for electrical safety is used or that a
dedicated bonding network is implemented for the telecommunications
infrastructure. The scope of this standard is to improve the EMI immunity
and thereby minimise the risk to the correct function of the
IT equipment. The standard relates to office, industrial, residential,
data centre and other types of buildings.
Section Contents
EN 50310
Conformance........................................................................... 60
Overview.................................................................................. 60

CONFORMANCE
The conformance clause includes that an assessment shall be made
do decide what approach to take for the bonding network. Based on
the assessment any necessary bonding that either use the protective
bonding network shall be used, dedicated bonding network to be
installed or a mesh bonding network to be installed. This is valid
for the backbone, building entrance and local bonding areas. The
telecommunications bonding network requirements are defined which
includes dimensioning and other requirements and recommendations.
It is assumed electrical installations, protective bonding networks and
protections against overvoltage are installed as per local regulations.
OVERVIEW
It is the objective of the standard to
• E nsure backbone and local bonding networks minimise potential
difference (d.c. and a.c.) to ensure functionality of the IT
equipment attached to the metallic cabling.
• P rovide the telecommunications installation with a reliable
signal reference by having adequate a.c. and radio frequency
performance to avoid problems with EMI.
Local connections
Areas of telecommunications equipment
distribution
Areas of telecommunications equipment
concentration
Local connections
Backbone connections
Zones
MET MET
During the assessment phase it shall be defined what approach to be
taken. The most efficient and flexible bonding network is the MESH
bonding network and is most easily implemented in new build projects.
For existing building or refurbishments the choice can be either to use
existing protective bonding network (with or without improvements)
or by implementing a separate telecommunications bonding network.
Depending on the outcome of the assessment, requirements for
impedance and d.c. resistance are defined for “between zones” and
“within zones” implementations.
One requirement that’s valid for both protective and dedicated
telecommunications bonding networks is the DC resistance between all
telecommunications equipment and closest protective bonding network
terminal. The requirement is distance dependent and allows a certain
mΩ/m between connections. The mΩ/m requirement is also applicable
for dedicated bonding networks and the connections between any
bonding point and the MET, primary (PBB) and secondary (SBB) bonding
busbars, bonding within a zone and secondary bonding busbar, primary
or secondary bonding busbar to structural steel. Verifications of the DC
resistance performance shall be made as a two-point test or a “dead
earth” test. Guidance on how to perform the test is described in the
standard.
Part of the overall requirements of bonding cabinets, frames and racks
are that they shall either be bonded to the protective bonding network
within the zone or to the SBB or PBB within the zone.
Every rack shall be connected with a connection point where the rack
bonding conductor (RBC) is connected to. The RBC shall then individually
be connected either telecommunications equipment bonding conductor,
primary (PBB) or secondary (SBB) bonding busbar or the local protective
bonding network. Racks and cabinets (>21RU) shall have RBCs with
a minimum cross-sectional area of 16 mm2. If the RBC is longer than
6 metres then additional RBCs, with smaller dimensions, shall be
implemented for impedance control. Internal connections, e.g. side
panels, metallic cable managers and patch panels shall be connected
with a unit bonding conductor (UBC) with a minimum cross-sectional
area of 4 mm2. More requirements and additional recommendations
are found in the standard.

To either:
• telecommunications equipment bonding conductor
• PBB/SBB
• protective bonding network
Rack bonding
conductor (RBC)
Horizontal rack Vertical rack

bonding busbar
(RBB)
UBC
Rack bonding conductor (RBC)

extended to bottom of rack to Bonding terminal
accommodate future growth
Figure 11 – Example of three methods of equipment and rack bonding
If a dedicated telecommunications bonding network is to be installed,

the following main components are included:
• PBB, primary bonding busbar
• TBC, telecommunications bonding conductor
Larger installations may also include:
• TBB, telecommunications bonding backbone
• SBB, secondary bonding busbar
• BBC, backbone bonding conductor
Secondary BBC for impedance control
BBC for d.c. resistance control
SBB SBB
TBB for d.c.

resistance control
SBB SBB
Secondary TBB for

impedance control
SBB SBB
MET PBB SBB
Zone containing dispersed telecommunications equipment

TBC and areas of telecommunications equipment concentration
Figure 12 – Illustrative example of a large building
Guidance on conductors areas and components are included in the

standard. Distance between PBB and SBB will dictate the cross-sectional
areas of the bonding conductors. Primary busbars (PBB) shall be
minimum 6.35 mm thick and minimum 100 mm wide. Actual dimensions
will be decided on the number of terminations and future growth
allowance. SBBs shall be minimum 50 mm wide.
100 mm
Mounting holes
Figure 13 – Schematic of PBB

Additional recommendations and requirements in order to
utilise protective bonding networks and supplement with local
telecommunications bonding networks are further described in
EN 50310.
a) Star local protective bonding network b) Supplementary telecommunications

bonding network
Figure 14 – Star protective bonding and supplementary telecommunications bonding
MESH bonding includes local mesh (MESH-IBN, referenced in e.g.

EN 50600-2-2) and fully merged (MESH-BN). Conductor sizing,
recommendations and requirements are further defined in EN 50310.
Supplementary bonding grid (SBG) is an improved mesh bonding
network that can be installed above or below cabinets and is typically
used in areas with higher concentration of IT equipment.
Further, complex deployments may require system reference potential
plane (SRPP) or additional bonding as part of access floors. Grid sizes,
sizing of conductors are covered within EN 50310.
EN 50174-1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY —
CABLING INSTALLATION
PART 1: INSTALLATION SPECIFICATION
AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

EN 50174-1 is the standard used for specifying generic cabling systems.
The scope includes recommendations and requirements for installation
specifications, quality assurance and procedures, documentation
and administration. The standard also includes requirements and
recommendations for operation and maintenance.

Section Contents
EN 50174-1
Conformance........................................................................... 67
Requirements for Specifying Installations............................... 67
Requirements for Installers..................................................... 70
Polarity Management for Optical Fibres.................................. 71
Sampling Plans and Testing..................................................... 72
CONFORMANCE
This clause includes requirements for the content of the project
specification which typically is under responsibility of the consultant,
designer, specifier or end-user. EN 50174-1 also includes requirements
for the installer; bonding shall be in accordance with EN 50310
and more.
REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFYING INSTALLATIONS

The installation specifications shall include technical requirements;
scope of works and how other systems like HVAC, piping systems etc.
have been taken into account. Other areas to be included are the overall
legislations and compliance such as safe working practices and the
requirement on contractors’ authorisation and skills, contact lists for the
site in regards for various areas.
The technical part of the specifications shall define requirements for
transmission performance in defined operational environment. It may be
that mitigation techniques needs to be used to meet these requirements
by adding external components to the cabling such as metallic pipes for
protection or IP-rated enclosures to protect the connectivity.
Requirements for testing and inspection, format of labels and labeling
to be undertaken and more are all parts that shall be defined in a
technical specification.
Building entrance facilities (BEF) are spaces that should be selected due
to security requirements, environment and space requirements. Cables
entering buildings that don’t meet national or local fire regulations or
requirements of applicable CPR ratings and EuroClass or recommended
performance requirements in EN 60332-1-2 shall either be: terminated
in an entrance facility outside the building or fire barrier or terminated
2 m inside the building. Full details are defined in EN 50174-1.
In the case remote powering is planned for then the specifications shall
clearly define the scope and what category the installation falls under.
The standard defines three categories:

• C ategory RP1 do not require any specific planning and installation
practices but can restrict future deployments of remote powering
equipment with higher capacity. Attachment of remote powering
equipment and cabling needs to be planned and controlled during
the lifetime of the cabling. The average current for all conductors
served from any given distributor shall be less than 212 mA,
(PoE/IEEE 802.3af and PoE+/IEEE 802.3at).
• C ategory RP2 require specific planning and installation practices
(defined in EN 50174-2). Attachment of remote powering
equipment and cabling needs to be planned and controlled during
the lifetime of the cabling. The average current for all conductors
served from any given distributor shall be between 212 mA
and 500mA, (some of the channels supporting 4PPoE/IEEE
802.3bt).
• C ategory RP3 require specific planning and installation practices
(defined in EN 50174-2). The installation does not require any
additional control but extensions to the cabling needs to be
planned. The max current for all conductors served from any
given distributor shall be less than 500 mA, (all of the channels
supporting 4PPoE/IEEE 802.3bt).
3
Type
2
1
Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Maximum power input to a cable
by power supply equipment 4W 7W 15 W 30 W 45 W 60 W 75 W 90 W
No. of remote powering pairs 2 4
io- (mA) 175 300 300 ~ 460

io-average (mA) 124 212 300 ~ 460
RP1 and RP2 would require the controls of monitoring the current load
on the cables leaving each distributor to ensure average amperage
is met.
Planning future builds form maximum flexibility of utilizing remote
powering equipment gives that planning for RP3 is needed. Detailed
information on how this should be performed is outlined in EN 50174-2,
section Planning and assessment of cabling in support of remote
powering objectives. A brief explanation on this topic is found in the
EN 50174-2 section of this guide.
Racks and cabinets located in the distributors provided remote powering
shall be labeled to visualise the category of the remote powering
installation. Some examples are shown below how this could look like:
REMOTE POWERING INSTALLATION REMOTE POWERING INSTALLATION
CATEGORY RP1 CATEGORY RP2 REMOTE POWERING INSTALLATION
NO UNAUTHORISED ATTACHMENT OF NO UNAUTHORISED ATTACHMENT OF CATEGORY RP3
REMOTE POWERING EQUIPMENT REMOTE POWERING EQUIPMENT
Figure 15 – Examples of labels indicating RP Category of remote powering installation
Pathways, pathway systems, cabinets, racks, bonding of the cabling and

more shall all be detailed in the technical requirements.
Identifiers and labeling
EN 50174-1 provides a procedure to establish the type of installation
and operational complexity levels. The installation complexity level
dictates what specifications are needed. Depending on number
of installed cable elements and type of premises will dictate what
complexity level to apply. The EN 50174-1 requires the planner to
define the level to be applied.
One example could be an installation in a larger office premises where
the number of cable elements dictates the installation complexity
to be Level 3. EN 50174-1 then provides minimum requirements for
identifiers that require the bonds, cabinets, cables, closures, pathways,
spaces and termination points to be named in accordance with ISO/
IEC TR 14763-2-1 unless the specification require alternative schemes
that provides the same level of details. In addition, labels shall be
attached to cabinets, cables at both ends, closures, pathways, spaces
and termination points. Records and/or drawings shall be provided in
electronic format (e.g. spreadsheets, databases).
Similar levels program but for operational complexity is specified. This
operational complexity level is derived from the number of administered
ports. If the same example as above is used and the number of ports is
more than 5000 then this would be classified as a Level 3 operational
complexity and would include the patch cords to be provided with
identifiers and labels, both sides, and the records shall include the
cord connections.

The standards also include an Enhanced complexity level that can be
referenced that requires an automated infrastructure management
(AIM) platform.
Additional requirements and recommendations for AIM are found in EN

50667 which is not covered in this standards guide.
In addition, the scope of work shall include any additional building

work required on pathways, preparation and the installation of pathway
systems. Also, the scope of work will include any additional surveys that
are needed to supplement the information in the scope of work section.
A checklist of minimum requirements to be included in the scope of
work is included in the standards and is not included in this guide.
Segregation of power supply and IT cabling shall meet requirements as
defined in 50174-2 and EN 50174-3.
REQUIREMENTS FOR INSTALLERS

The installer shall present a quality plan that addresses the procedures
to comply with requirements in the EN 50174-1 standard, the applicable
referenced premises standard (e.g. EN 50173-2) and the installation
specifications. Further the quality plan shall include all requirements
defined by the complexity plan applied. This includes details on the
test equipment, calibration status, sampling plans (if any). The quality
plan according to complexity Level 1 requires limited testing and
administration. It is recommended all installers and consultants review
the full standard to gain knowledge of actual requirements in the
standard.
The installers shall obtain instructions, installation and operation,
from manufacturers of the cabling components including pathway
systems, installation equipment/tools and termination of the cables to
connecting hardware.
POLARITY MANAGEMENT FOR OPTICAL FIBRES
A normative Annex B includes polarity maintenance for multiple optical
fibres. Polarity of fixed installed cabling segment shall be installed with a
crossover in each optical fibre pair. This provides equipment Tx ports to
arrive in Rx ports at other end. The standard allows two ways for duplex
links; symmetrical positioning and reverse-pair positioning. Either can be
used but symmetrical is recommended since simplex applications can
use same port numbers (e.g. port 3 on near end side appears on
port 3 at far end side).
Cable
Yellow
Yellow
Green
Green
Violet
Violet
White
White
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Rear of Rear of
panel A panel B
Front of 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 Front of
panel A panel B
Cords at Cords at
panel A panel B
B
B
A
Figure 16 – Optical fibre sequences and adapter orientation in patch panel

for the Symmetrical Position Method
The optional reverse pair positioning method is commonly used and

provides a cross-over on the fixed cable links.
Cable
Yellow
Yellow
Green
Green
Violet
Violet
White
White
Blue
Blue
Red
Red
Rear of Rear of
panel A panel B
Front of 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 Front of
panel A panel B
Cords at Cords at
panel A panel B
B
B
A
Figure 17 – Optical fibre sequences and adapter orientation in patch panel

for the Reverse-Pair Position Method

Recommended polarity maintenance for array connecting hardware
with 12 or more optical fibres per row are included as an informative
annex in EN 50174-1. The introduction of pinned and unpinned
connectors combination with polarity management includes
additional considerations that should be managed and planned for.
Consult the standard for additional information.
SAMPLING PLANS AND TESTING

It is recommended that the installation specifications include the testing
requirements. If testing is required then Annex F (normative) includes a
complete set of requirements and recommendations on how to perform
this based on link testing as well as testing of channels. This is valid for
both balanced copper cabling and fibre optical links.
Treatment of marginal and non-compliant results is covered in
the same annex.
PART 2: INSTALLATION PLANNING AND
PRACTICES INSIDE BUILDINGS
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

EN 50174-2 is the standard used for planning and installation of generic
cabling systems inside buildings. The scope includes recommendations
and requirements for installation and operation, includes a process of
assessment of remote powering in various pathway systems and
cabling media.
standard and it is understood that the full standard document should be
purchased for proper usage. As always, local regulations shall be met.

Section Contents
EN 50174-2
Conformance........................................................................... 75
Requirements for Installers..................................................... 84
Premises Specific Requirements............................................. 85
CONFORMANCE
This clause includes requirements for both the planner of the
specifications as well as for the installer.
Additional requirements are also included for the premises specific
installations (e.g. office, data centre). Bonding system shall be
implemented in accordance with EN 50310.

The section for the planners of the installation includes requirements
and recommendations in subsections like:
• Safety
- Personnel
- Low voltage power supply cabling
- Optical fibre cabling
- Transmission and terminal equipment
- Closures
- Cables
• Termination points
• Documentation
• Pathways
• C able management systems (overhead, under-floor
and conduit installations)
• Closures
• Cabling
• P lanning and assessment of cabling supporting
remote powering objectives
This guide only provides an introduction of the content and therefore
the full standard is recommended before use. Some of the requirements
above are described in this guide.

Pathways and Pathway Systems
Metallic information technology cabling shall be segregated in
accordance with minimum requirements. This is a requirement for
planners in the selection of cable management section.
The segregation of power and IT cables is depending the electrical
immunity performance on the IT cables, quantity of and type of electrical
circuits of the power supply cables and what sort of pathway system
used. The process to be applied for application support and cabling in
accordance with EN 50173 series is the following simplified process
below. Full details are provided in the standard.
Is cabling and application YES Segregation Class=“b”

support in accordance with
EN 50173 series
NO
Segregation Class=“d”
Select containment
Determine S
Select cable
Determine P Select alternative with
containment OR alternative
Segregation Class
Do the
pathways and cable management NO
systems allow seperation
A=S x P?
YES
Apply separation
NO Do national/local YES Amend separation
regulations or manufacturers instructions
A=S x P impose more stringent as appropriate
requirements?
Apply other considerations

from specific EMI sources,
e.g. fluorescent lamps
Install
Segregation class:
IT cables have EMI performance classified in four different categories
with ‘d’ providing the highest performance and ‘a’ the lowest
performance. The different segregation classifications are using
requirements from the cable standards (EN 50288 series). Unshielded
cables classify their performance based on their TCL performance
and screened cables have coupling attenuation as the parameter for
segregation classification. If the pathway systems should allow any type
of cabling then segregation class ‘a’ should be used. Local regulations
can require greater separation or additional barriers than using this
approach.
Category 7 and Category 7A compliant cables meet ‘d’-classification
and high performing (exceeding the standards requirements) Category
6 UTP and Category 6A UTP can meet class ‘c’-classification. Category 6
UTP compliant cables, not exceeding the requirements, meet class ‘b’.
Consult the manufacturer of the cables to be used and ask for guidance
on which segregation classification to apply. Planning for class `b`
would allow any standard compliant cable to be installed, using higher
class for planning of the pathway will restrict the cables that can be
installed during the lifetime of the pathway.
Information technology cable

Coaxial/
Screened Unscreened twinaxial
Coupling TCL at 30 MHz Screening
attenuation to 100MHz attenuation
Segregation
at 30 MHz to at 30 MHz to
classification
100MHz 100MHz
dB dB dB
≥ 80 ≥ 70 – 10 x lg f ≥ 85 d
≥ 55 ≥ 60 – 10 x lg f ≥ 55 c
≥ 40 ≥ 50 – 10 x lg f ≥ 40 b
< 40 < 50 – 10 x lg f < 40 a
Table 5 - Classification of information technology cables

Separation distance (S):
Depending on what type of pathway system and divider installed
different separation distances apply.
• O pen metallic containment is equivalent to welded steel basket
trays with a mesh size of 50 mm x 100 mm.
• P erforated metallic containment steel should reflect steel tray
trunking without cover and > 1.0 mm wall thickness and max 20%
evenly perforated area. Upper surface of cables shall be more than
10 mm below the top of the tray side walls.
• S olid metallic containment equivalent to 1.5 mm thick
steel conduit.
Containment applied to information

technology or power supply cabling
(separation specified is in addition to that provided
by any divider/barrier)
Segregation Separation Open metallic Perforated Solid metallic
classification without containment metallic containment
electromagnetic containment
barrier
d 10 mm 8 mm 5 mm 0 mm
c 50 mm 38 mm 25 mm 0 mm
b 100 mm 75 mm 50 mm 0 mm
a 300 mm 225 mm 150 mm 0 mm
Table 6 - Minimum separation S
Power cabling factor (P):
The number of electrical circuits will dictate the Power cabling factor (P).
The distance that is provided from the table with minimum separation
(S) shall be multiplied with the Power cabling factor (P) to get the
separation distance needed.
Calculations on how 3-phase cables should be treated as well as how
circuits with >20 A are dealt with are included in the standard. Table
below provides only a portion of the recommendations in the standard.
Electrical circuit Quantity of circuits Power cabling factor

type P
20 A 230 V 1-phase 1 to 3 0,2
4 to 6 0,4
7 to 9 0,6
10 to 12 0,8
13 to 15 1,0
16 to 30 2
31 to 45 3
46 to 60 4
61 to 75 5
>75 6
Table 7 - Power cabling factor

An example could be an installation of a IT cable meeting segregation
class C, installed in a basket tray (open metallic containment) together
with 25 1-phase 20A cables. This gives a distance of 38 mm multiplied
with power factor 2 which means the cables shall have at least 76 mm
separation on the basket tray. Consideration could be made to allow
expansion of additional electrical circuits which may dictate using
another Power cabling factor. The separation shall be provided in all
three dimensions. Either the divider on the tray provides this separation
or other means of securing the cables providing this separation is
allowed.
If power and IT cables need to cross and the separation distance cannot
be met then the crossing shall be at 90 degrees.
Additional separation requirements and relaxations
The standard includes a table with various samples of disturbance
sources with related minimum separation distances. As an example
fluorescent lamps require minimum 130 mm separation distance to IT
cabling.
In some instances no segregation is needed. This could be in application
specific circumstances or in situations where the environment complies
with E1, the IT cable meets minimum segregation class ‘b’ and the power
supply conductors form circuits and either:
• The power conductors are within an overall sheath and provides
less than 100 A or
• The power conductors are twisted/bundled or taped and provide a
total current of max 32 A.
Stacking Heights
Cabling manufacturers typically provide maximum stacking heights for
their cables. If this information is not known at the point of creating the
technical specifications than the standards based requirements shall
be used.
• P athways with continuous support shall not include cables
stacked higher than 150 mm.
• P athways systems like ladder, basket trays or hooks shall not
exceed stacking height more than provided information in
table 8.
l h
mm mm
0 150
100 125
150 115
250 100
500 75
750 60
1000 50
1500 37.5
NOTE: The requirements for h is based on cables with a crush resistance of at least
5000 N/m.
Table 8 - Stacking height
The pathways, entry points and pathway systems that are specified shall
ensure all cables are able to meet minimum bend radius requirements.
This can be achieved by using products designed for the purpose or
other ways as describe in schematic below.
S
S
S
S
S
S
a) Non-conformant solutions b) Conformant solutions
Figure 18 - Example of non-conformant and conformant bend limiting techniques

Planning and assessment of cabling in support of remote
powering applications
Elevated temperatures on cabling will reduce the maximum channel
lengths due to increased loss performance. The table below summarises
the limits valid from Class D to Class FA up to the maximum allowed
temperature of 60 degrees which cables are rated to.
Total length of cords

m
10 15 20
Tglobal Channel length

°C m
20 100 98 95
25 98 96 93
30 97 94 91
35 95 92 89
40 93 90 87
45 90 87 85
50 86 84 82
55 83 81 79
60 80 78 76
NOTE: The channel length values assume the use of cords with an attenuation premium
of 50% and an overall temperature coefficient of 0,4% per °C and 0,6% per °C between 40
°C and 60 °C.
Table 9 - Technology-independent channel length vs. temperature
EN 50174-series introduces the concept of RP1, RP2 and RP3
classifications to support various remote powering applications. RP1 do
not require any initial planning but RP3 will require initial planning but
would then be able to support applications up to 0,5 A per conductor. All
following, formulas, temperatures are based that all eight conductors in
a balanced cable carry 0.5 A.
Depending of the installation conditions various temperature rises
will apply. The EN 50174 standards are using the defined installation
conditions as defined for electrical installations in HD 60364-5-52
Low-voltage electrical installations.
• Installation condition A – in insulation
• Installation condition B – in trunking/conduit
• Installation condition C – on unperforated tray
• Installation condition E/F – in ventilated conditions
Formulas exist in the standard to calculate the temperature rise Δ T
for the various installation conditions with the different installation
conditions and number of cables within the bundle. The formulas allow
for the usage of specific characteristics for the cables to be used. If this
is not known then a defined set of values shall be used. An example
using the defined values would be that a 48 cable bundle installed
in a ventilated tray would expect a temperature increase of 11 °C.
Same cable bundle installed in an insulated condition increases the
temperature with 39 °C.
When calculating the temperature rise the combined value Tambient and
ΔT shall never exceed 60 °C.
The formula calculating the temperature rise in a cable bundle is based
on circular bundles. If the cables are installed with a width-to-height
ratio of >1 then the cable surface area increases and will reduce the
thermal impact. When this type of deployments are planned for, e.g. in a
tray, then a reduction factor for rectangular cable groups can be applied.
Some examples of reduction factors are:
• 0.77 if the width-to-height ratio of the cable group is 3:1
• 0.66 If the ratio is 5:1.

A full table from 1:1 to 10:1 is provided in the standard.
X
8X
8:1 ratio gives a 0.66 ΔT multiplier
2:1 ratio gives a

X
0.84 ΔT multiplier
2X
REQUIREMENTS FOR INSTALLERS

EN 50174-2 includes safety and documentation requirements but also
provides requirements for the installation practices to be used, labelling,
testing and contractual acceptance. Content of this section is to ensure
the requirements from the planner have been met but also to ensure
proper installation techniques have been used.
Pathways and pathway systems
The installer shall ensure that the installation specifications and
schedule can be met. This includes, before the installation starts,
verification of the pathways are in accordance with specifications,
support structures are suitable to support the weight load etc. If there
are any deviations the installer shall advice the client of any deviations
or actions are required. The pathway systems shall be installed so there
are no risk of scratching or damaging the cable sheaths when installing
or removing cables. This means that e.g. threaded rods shall be installed
with a non-damaging cover that’s located inside the pathway system.
Installations
All installations shall be implemented as per instructions from
manufacturer and suppliers. Segregation between IT cabling and power
supply cabling shall be in accordance with the standards requirements.
All cable installations shall be made to ensure bend radius requirements
are met as well as prevent cable sheaths are not deformed with pressure
marks. Bundles with cables shall not contain more than 24 cables.
If the installation requirement includes support of remote powering
applications then appropriate installation techniques shall be deployed,
e.g. changing height-width then ratio of cable bundles or implementing
spacing between cable bundles as specified in the standard.
If required in the quality plan testing shall be performed. Additional
requirements and recommendations for closures bend radius inside
closures, joining and termination of cables and, cable screens e.g. are
also defined in the EN 50174-2.
PREMISES SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

The standard includes different sections that outlines the premises
specific (e.g. offices, industrial, homes) installation requirements and
recommendations for both planners and installers. This guide only
provides a brief insight into what the additional requirements are for
data centre spaces.
The data centre spaces requirements within EN 50174-2 require that
EN 50600-2-4 (Data centre facilities and infrastructures - Part 2-4:
Telecommunications cabling infrastructure) shall be met. In regards of
cabling and pathways there shall be a risk assessment made during the
design phase which shall result in a pathway design, pathway selection
and cabling infrastructure design. More details on EN 50600 is found in
separate section in this guide.

PART 3: INSTALLATION PLANNING AND
PRACTICES OUTSIDE BUILDINGS
PURPOSE AND SCOPE

EN 50174-3 is the standard used for planning and installation of generic
cabling systems outside buildings including cabling systems designed
according to the EN 50173 series. Planning of pathways, spaces for the
core and access network cabling lies outside the scope of this standard
but safety, function and environmental objectives are included.
Building A Campus (premises) boundary
Building B
Underground utility tunnel
† Maintenance hole
† Maintenance hole
External network
provision
Aerial pathway
†
Bldg
Bldg
E
† † Bldg
D F Underground conduit
Directly buried pathway

Building C
Figure 19 - Example of cabling installations outside buildings
standard and it is understood that the full standard document should be
purchased for proper usage. As always, local regulations shall be met.
Section Contents
EN 50174-3
Conformance........................................................................... 88

CONFORMANCE
This clause includes requirements for both the planner of the
specifications as well as for the installer. In addition, local regulations
shall be met.

The section for the planners of the installation includes requirements
and recommendations in subsections like:
• Documentation
• Pathways and pathway systems
• Closures
• Cabling
• Spaces and structures
• Administrations
Some guidance is also included for specific sites like hospitals, airports,
over and underground railways and more.
Planning of pathways shall take into account for existing buildings,
placement of potential new buildings, redundancy requirements, building
entrance facilities (BEF), existing underground infrastructures and more.
Cable segregation requirements between IT and power cabling shall
meet all applicable requirements defined for the various conditions
whether it’s underground, aerial or due to specific sources of EMI.
Some examples of separation distances are included in this guide but
this should not be seen as a full comprehensive list of requirements,
consult the standard for all requirements.
Separation distance in aerial installations are dependent of voltage
levels and type of power cables and is grouped by voltage levels less or
more than AC 1000 V r.m.s. or DC 1500 V and range from 0,5 m to 2,0
metre distance. If IT cables needs to cross aerial HV lines with more than
25 kV then these should be located in an underground pathway system.
Various clearance distance above ground are included such as
motorways (6 m) and non-navigable waterways (5,5 m). Other specific
requirements include direct buried cabling and the pathway depth below
finished surface. Some examples are footpath (0,5 m), roads including
parking areas (0,6 m) and uncultivated or landscaped land (0,5 m).
Additional guidance and recommendations are included in informative
annexes covering EMC and protection and Earth potential rise (EPR).
Some local deviations apply due to local regulations to this standard;
these are included in separate annex.

EN 50600 SERIES—DATA CENTRE FACILITIES
AND INFRASTRUCTURES
INTRODUCTION
The EN 50600 series of standards includes requirements and
recommendations for anyone involved with design, planning,
installations, operation and maintenance of data centres and related
infrastructures. This typically includes representatives from owners, ICT
managers, contractors, consultants, designers, installers and suppliers
of equipment. The EN 50600 standards include a set of various
standards which all are inter-related.
Section Contents
EN 50600
EN50600-1 Information Technology—Data Centre Facilities
and Infrastructures
Part 1: General Concepts....................................................... 93
EN50600-2-1 Information Technology—Data Centre Facilities
and Infrastructures
Part 2-1: Building Construction............................................. 94
and Infrastructures
Part 2-2: Power Distribution.................................................. 95
and Infrastructures
Part 2-3: Environmental Control............................................ 96
and Infrastructures
Part 2-4: Telecommunications Cabling Infrastructure.......... 97
and Infrastructures
Part 2-5: Security Systems.................................................... 98

EN 50600-1
General concepts
EN 50600-2-x EN 50600-3-x EN 50600-4-x
Design Operation Resource management

Key performace indicators
CLC/TR 50600-99-x
Supporting information and technical reports

Recommended practices for energy management
Recommended practices for environmental sustainability
Guidance for the application of EN 50600 series
Figure 20 - Schematic relationship between the EN 50600 series of documents
EN 50600-1 includes the general concepts of business risk analysis and

specifies a classification system where the design of a data centre is
based on the following aspects:
• Availability
• Security
• Energy-efficiency
EN 50600-2-x includes requirements and recommendations for
the various infrastructures such as power supply and distribution,
environmental control, security. The standards specify requirements and
recommendations given per availability class.
EN 50600-3-x specifies the requirements and recommendations for
operations, processes and management.
EN 50600-4-x specifies the requirements and recommendations for KPIs
used to assess and improve the energy efficiency and effectiveness for a
data centre. Examples of KPIs include Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE)
and Renewable Energy Factor (REF).
In addition, a number of Technical reports have been developed to
provide additional information for energy management and more.
CLC/TR 50600-99-1 includes recommended practices for energy
management and has been prepared in conjunction with the EU Code of
Conduct provided by Directorate-General Joint Research 39 Centre (DG
JRC) of the European Commission (EC).
EN 50600-1 Information Technology—
Data Centre Facilities and Infrastructures
Part 1: General concepts
OVERVIEW
The standard includes information on business risk analysis and
classification system for data centres. The classification systems are
detailed in regards of:
• Availability class
• Protection class
• Energy efficiency enablement
The conformance clause includes that a business risk analysis to be
completed then an appropriate availability and protection class to be
selected based on the results from the business risk analysis. In addition
an appropriated energy efficiency enablement level shall be selected.
When these selections have been made then the design of the data
centre infrastructures, list below, can be designed accordingly:
• EN 50600-2-1 for building construction*
• EN 50600-2-2 for power distribution
• EN 50600-2-3 for environmental control
• EN 50600-2-4 for telecommunications cabling infrastructure
• EN 50600-2-5 for security systems*
*Availability class for building construction and security systems have
limited use of the availability classes
A data centre designed with availability class 1 would provide limited
availability and an availability class 4 data centre would be providing
high availability. Different redundancy requirements apply to the
various availability classes and related infrastructure system (power,
environmental control and cabling).

Protection Classes shall be defined for all data centre areas and are
defined in the aspects of protecting against:
• Unauthorised access
• Internal environmental events (e.g. overheating, fire, ESD, water)
• E xternal environmental events (e.g. fire, earthquake, explosion,
lightning
Protection class 1 would represent public or semi-public areas and
would typically not include any specific protection against internal fire or
environmental events. Class 2 is accessible to authorised personnel such
as employees and visitors and requires the area to be protected by a
detection and suppression system. Class 3 and Class 4 further limits
the restrictions as well as increases the protection against
environmental events.
Energy efficiency enablement is related to energy monitoring granularity
and are defined from Level 1 to Level 3. More granular monitoring
of the facility will allow better understanding of any energy efficiency
objectives. Level 1 only provides simple information for the data centre
as a whole. Level 2 or Level 3 are needed to calculate KPIs such as PUE
in accordance with EN 50600-4-2.
EN 50600-2-1 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY—

DATA CENTRE FACILITIES AND
INFRASTRUCTURES
PART 2-1: BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
OVERVIEW
The standard includes requirements and recommendations for location,
site configuration, building construction, and data centre spaces
and more.
Some of the requirements that shall be met are that a site assessment
of the location shall be made and meet the specified requirements
for geographical location, natural environment, adjacencies, and
infrastructural factors.
As for the building constriction, the load-bearing structure, building
materials, foundations, walls (exterior and interior), roofs, floors and
ceiling shall all meet the defined requirement. Some requirements
include fire ratings, dimensions and load ratings.

INFRASTRUCTURES
PART 2-2: POWER DISTRIBUTION
OVERVIEW
The standard includes requirements and recommendations for power
supplies to data centres, distribution systems within data centres,
facilities for both normal and emergency lighting, telecommunications
infrastructure bonding, lightning protection and devices for monitoring
power consumption characteristics.
The conformance clause includes that all requirements shall be met

when it comes to the design of power supply and distribution design.
Further the telecommunications bonding system within the computer
room and telecommunications space of the data centre shall be in
accordance with the local mesh bonding requirements defined in EN
50310. Additional requirement also apply for conformance.
The various availability class requirements are included and describe
requirements and recommendations for both power supply to the data
centre and power distribution within the data centre for the various
classes.
The granularity levels for power supply characteristics are also
described in this standard. Requirements for the accuracy of the current
transformers and measuring instrument equipment are specified.

INFRASTRUCTURES
PART 2-3: ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
OVERVIEW
The standard includes requirements and recommendations for
temperature control, fluid movement control, relative humidity control,
particulate control, vibration and the physical security of the
environmental control systems.
Conformance with the standard require the environmental control
solution to meet the requirements as well as the energy efficiency
enablement solution shall meet the requirements of the relevant
granularity level (e.g. temperature monitoring). Additional requirements
also apply for conformance.
The different availability classes dictate various levels of redundancy at
the supply and distribution side of the systems. This could range from
single path supply distribution systems with no resilience up to multi-
path supply and distribution systems. The various availability classes
are described in more detail in the standard.
Further it outlines minimum requirements for the various spaces that
apply to data centres such as generator spaces, fuel storage systems,
transformer spaces, electrical and telecommunications spaces as well as
for the computer room spaces.
INFRASTRUCTURES
PART 2-4: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CABLING INFRASTRUCTURE
OVERVIEW
telecommunications cabling, general information on how cabling
supports the operation of the data centre including monitoring
and building automation, pathways, spaces and enclosures for
telecommunications cabling.
Conformance with the standard require the cabling design to meet the
availability class requirements, design and specifications for pathways
and spaces, cabling shall be in accordance with both EN 50173-2
(supporting operations), EN 50173-5 (supporting IT networking) and
EN 50173-6 (environmental control and physical security). Further,
in regards of the installation specifications, quality assurance, and
installation planning shall be in accordance with the EN 50174 series.
The cabling infrastructure and related pathway design shall meet
the selected class availability and include necessary redundancy
requirements. The standard includes overall requirements as well as
specific requirements for the computer room space and define how
inter-cabinets, intra-cabinets, adjacent cabinets should be cabled.
Cabling design for availability class 1 requires no redundancy and a
single path is ok. Cabling for availability class 4 require a multi-path
redundancy using diverse physical pathways and redundant distribution
areas.

Provider A
Class 1 Provider A+B
Class 2
ENI MD ID ZD EO ENI MD ID ZD EO
Provider A+B Class 3 Provider A+B Class 4

EO EO
ENI MD ID ZD EO ENI MD ID ZD EO
EO
ENI ENI MD ID ZD EO
Provider A+B Provider A+B
Pathway A
Pathway B
ENI - External Network Interface

MD - Main Distributor
ID - Intermediate Distributor
ZD - Zone Distributor
EO - Equipment Outlet
The cabinets and racks used as distributors shall be at least 800 mm

wide and cabinets used for equipment are recommended to be 1200
mm deep. EN 50174-2 also includes specific data centre requirements
for pathways and spaces that shall be met.

INFRASTRUCTURES
PART 2-5: SECURITY SYSTEMS
OVERVIEW
unauthorised access, fire events igniting within data centre spaces
and other event within or without the data centre which would affect
the defined level of protection. These requirements are based on the
availability, security and energy efficiency enablement classifications.
The conformance clause includes that the required protection class
shall be applied to the data centre spaces, the individual requirements
of the protection class and systems shall be applied.
Note that there are no overall ratings of a data centre to hold a certain
protection class.
Protection Protection Protection Protection
Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4
Personnel entrances to The internal access Premises entrance Cabinets, cages or
buildings or structures to docking bays (the facility a b rows of cabinets
containing data centre barrier of the docking within the computer
spaces bay providing the Building entrance room space
interface between facilities b
Protection Classes Computer room
1 and 2) spaces
External premises Control room space
security spaces
Data centre security
Personnel entrances to spaces
the data centre spaces
Storage spaces
Holding spaces
Testing spaces
Data centre office

spaces
a This applies to premises entrance facilities which are within control of the data centre.
b Access restrictions apply to the pathways leading to areas of Protection Classes of a lower
Protection Class.
Table 10 - Examples of Protection Classes for data centre spaces
As the concept includes the creation of different protection classes and

related zones/areas means that connecting two individual protection
classes with pathways through an area will a lower protection class will
require the pathway to meet the higher protection class requirements.
Infrastructure connecting
areas of the same Protection Class
Protection
Protection Class 1 Protection
Class 4
Protection Class 3
Protection Class 3 Protection
Class 2 Class 3
Protection
Class 4
Infrastructure connecting
areas of different Protection Class
Figure 21 - Interconnection between Protection Class islands

The individual requirements per protection class include requirements
specific requirements for construction, fire protection, as well as
organisational processes. Additional recommendations are included
and includes many areas that commonly is used as best practice within
data centres.
Depending on the risk analysis the management of risk can include
suitable processes in combination with various technology systems which
could be security lighting, video surveillance systems, access control and
alarm monitoring. Basic technical requirements are included for these
systems in the EN 50600-2-5 standard.
Obtaining Standards Documents

TIA documents may be purchased through Global Engineering Documents
at www.global.ihs.com. IEEE documents may be purchased through
www.ieee.org. CENELEC standards are published by each country
electrotechnical standards organisation.
For further assistance or more information, contact your local Anixter sales
office. Some material in this publication is reproduced from standards
publications, which are copyrighted by the Telecommunications Industry
Association, International Standards Organisation and CENELEC.
This document was prepared by Anixter Inc. Anixter is not affiliated
with CENELEC. CENELEC is not responsible for the content of this
publication.
For direct assistance in interpreting telecommunications standards,
consider Registered Communications Distribution Designers (RCDD)
certified by the Building Industry Consulting Service International
(BICSI) at www.bicsi.org.
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EN 50173-1

TECHNOLOGY SUPPLY CHAIN GLOBAL

SAVE REDUCE INCREASE MITIGATE

SCOPE OF THIS GUIDE

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |7

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |9

BALANCED CABLING PERFORMANCE

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |11

COAXIAL CABLING TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE

OPTICAL FIBRE CABLING TRANMISSION PERFORMANCE

REFERENCE IMPLEMENTATION FOR BACKBONE

Equipment Patch cord/ Patch cord/ Equipment

Using the defined channel configurations of components then

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |13

850 nm 1300 nm 850 nm 953 nm 1300 nm 850 nm 953 nm

OM3 A1a.2 3,5 1,5 1 500 - 500 2 000 -

OM4 A1a.3 3,5 1,5 3 500 - 500 4 700 -

OM5c A1a.4 3,0 1,5 3 500 1 850 500 4 700 2 470

Table 1 – Cabled multimode optical fibre performance requirements

Wavelength Maximum attenuation

1 383 1,0 0,4

1 550 1,0 0,4

Table 2 – Cabled single-mode optical fibre performance requirements

Connecting hardware requirements for balanced cabling specifies that

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |15

Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5 Category 5

Category 6 Category 5 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6 Category 6

Category 6A Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 6A Category Category

Category 8.1 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 6A Category Category

Category 7 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category 7 Category 7

Category 7A Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category Category

Category 8.2 Category 5 Category 6 Category Category Category 7 Category Category

Table 3 – Backwards compatibility matrix

The optical fibre connectors and adapters should, in unmated state,

Figure 1 – Optical fibre assignments for connecting hardware for 12 and 24

The EN 60603-7 series of standards includes specifications for balanced

Category and type Standard

Full list of corresponding connector standards are found in EN 50173-1

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |17

Cabled Optical Fibre Category

ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 2,60 300 2,90 400 2,90 400

ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,90 100 1,50 150 1,50 150

ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,80 70 1,90 100 1,90 100

ISO/IEC/IEEE 8802-3:2017, 850 1,90 100 1,50 150 1,50 150

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |19

Installations shall further meet the requirements of EN 50174 and

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |21

Campus Building Horizontal cabling subsystem Work area

Generic cabling system

If redundancy is required then additional distributors are allowed to

BD1 BD2 BD1 BD2

Basic hierarchy cables

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |23

Figure 3 – Example of a horizontal cabling channel

Using these defined implementations in combination with the reference

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |25

Figure 4 – Combined optical fibre backbone/horizontal channels

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |27

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE EN 50173-3 STANDARD

ANIXTER EUROPEAN STANDARDS REFERENCE GUIDE |29

Campus Building Floor Intermediate

Table 4 – Maximum channel lengths for reference implementations of ICT/BCT channels