TIA Updates Data Center Cabling Standard to Keep Pace with Technology Advancements

Telecommunications Industry Association approves TIA-942-B Data Center Cabling Standard

Aug. 17, 2017

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TR-42 Telecommunications Cabling Systems Engineering Committee has approved the TIA-942-B Data Center Cabling Standard. To help data centers address current and future needs, the updated standard includes several substantial changes from the previous version.

The TIA-942-B standard includes the following, among other, changes from the “A” revision:

Incorporates TIA-942-A Addendum 1, which addresses data center fabrics
Adds 16- and 32-fiber MPO-style array connectors as an additional connector type for termination of more than two fibers. The 16- and 32-fiber connectors were standardized when ANSI/TIA-604-18 was published.
Adds Category 8 as an allowed type of balanced twisted-pair cable, and changes the recommendation for Category 6A balanced twisted-pair cable to Category 6A or higher.
Adds OM5 (wideband multimode fiber) as an allowed fiber type. The TIA-492.AAAE standard specifies OM5 fiber, which is designed to support short-wave wavelength division multiplexing.

For more information, visit http://www.tiaonline.org.