Book excerpt: Covering major standards and relevant design issues, this book explains how to specify, install, and test a modern reliable structured cabling system and analyzes the terminology and physics behind the standards. The author empowers the reader with the skills required to read and understand standards and address problems raised by the need to design, procure, install, and test a modern cabling system, using both copper and optical fiber cable technology. He thoroughly discusses the technology and the vast number of standards that accompany it. The material is based on the design recommendations of ISO/IEC 11801. The appendix lists relevant standards and provides contacts for standards organizations.