PROJECT TITAN - ETHERNET CABLING INFRASTRUCTURE: 50 THOUSAND FEET - 9.46 MILES
As noted up top to achieve a reliable and sustainable 10 / 40 GB Ethernet *Super Highway* the proper certified pure copper cabling had to be in place ~ No CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum)!! Each category of Ethernet cable supports and sustain 10 GB only at a specified distance. As such the matrix below indicates what cable will sustain 10 / 40 GB for a given distance.
Other areas which pertain to the secure network are connected via fiber optics to ensure low latency, consistent throughput, and complete rejection of EMI / RFI.
CAT-8 Ethernet cable is the only copper wiring that has been certified to support 40GB's sustained data transfer. As such all of the hardware will be interconnected using CAT-8 wiring.
As always with the power of online sales this was easily done while balancing long term costs.
As in many of the facilities I helped manage and deploy there had to be a solid plan about the type of cabling, gauge, and color. Any zone that was identified as needing to use POE (Power Over Ethernet) and would cross over or be near power lines would utilize shielded cabling.
All of that cabling would use solid 23 AWG copper CM / CMR where needed.
Other zones that were identified as being extremely high bandwidth would utilize certified CAT-7 / CAT-8 Ethernet cable. All other zones would use at the minimum of CAT-6 / CAT-6A cabling to ensure a 10 GB connection would be sustained.
As noted up top having a working color schema that helped identify the area, type, zone, comes at a cost. One would figure any color in the rainbow could be purchased at the same cost(s) but surprisingly many of the vendors tack on a premium for various colors?!?!
In my home I have decided to use the following colors to denote various type, areas, zones within the property. Some colors are designated for internal vs external networks, while others are designated for the use type such as audio, video, security force protection, network, energy management, home automation, etc.
One of nine boxes of CAT-6 23 AWG solid CM Ethernet cabling.
This box contains the standard blue cable everyone is used to seeing. The other eight boxes cover the gamete of: White, black, green, yellow, red, grey, orange. These nine boxes will cover the first 9 thousand feet which will be hardwired to various points in the infrastructure.
There are areas where using inline coupling just makes more sense from the perspective of time, costs, and ease of deployment. I'll address that a little more down below as I get further along with some of the hardware that will be used to help facilitate that goal.
Some yellow colored 2000 feet CAT-6 Ethernet stranded cable that arrived early last year.
Each bundle is 100 feet in length and will help in the deployment of trunk cabling.
Some white colored 750 feet CAT-7 Shielded Ethernet stranded cable that came later in the 2018 year.
CAT-7 Shielded Ethernet cable
Given how thick CAT-7 shielded cable is I had to use much wider conduit from 3" to 5" to ensure future cable pulls and bundles would fit. In the worst case scenario I would have to run another conduit to allow the extra cabling.
Some more CAT-6 stranded 50 / 75 feet Ethernet cable in black.
I guess besides the color blue, black is one of the most common colors being sold. As such the price for this color cable was so cheap I simply purchased a boat load. All told I purchased 50 of each colored length which equates to 50 X 50 = 2500 feet
50 X 75 = 3750 feet for a total line of 6250 feet!!
Siemans CAT-6A shielded white cable in various lengths that was left over from the first stage of deployment.
These Sieman cables were found very cheap for 5, 10, 15, 25 feet lengths.
Belden CAT-6 stranded cabling in grey.
This box came in what best called a mixed lot and had 10, 15, 25, 50 feet lengths. I don't recall exactly how many of each came in the mixed lot but there was at the minimum of 35 of each cable length.
The box was huge . . .
In another surplus auction I was able to purchase 352 Wire Works CAT-6 cable. This lot like the one above was a mixed lot. So that came with various grey colored cables from 15, 25, 50, 75, 100 feet.
On one of the last installs I did there was a lot of left over Belden CAT-6 patch cables. The project manager on site was about to throw them out when I chirped up and said.
I'll take that box of 50 off your hands . . .
I really don't care for the color blue but can easily over look it given the cable was free! A number of years ago Belden decided to terminate the ends of their CAT-6 cable of different colors. In this case these CAT-6 cables have black RJ45 jacks.
As of this writing a small sample of CAT-8 cabling has been ordered to compare the throughput and latency vs fiber optics. For all of the none POE connections in the server rack CAT-8 Ethernet cabling will be used to link the 10 GB hardware from Firewall, Router, Switch, Patch Panels,
TRUNK CABLING - TYING IT ALL UP
To help facilitate the large amounts of cabling from point A -> B. Multiple strands of Ethernet will be bundled together into what is known in the industry as Trunk Cables. Normally these trunk cables are encapsulated in a woven fiber to keep the entire length neat and tight.
Instead of purchasing dedicated trunk cabling I will be making my very own using Velcro straps. Below is a small sample I have prepped into stacks of 100 strips.
I know it's hard to tell how much there is but rest assured each bundle has 100 Velcro straps. You don't have to take my word for it you can ask my GF who had to make each bundle!
Four stacks of Velcro prepped and staged for trunk cabling deployment.
Below are two large trunks I made to get ready for the big pull across the basement. When you pass 35 feet Ethernet cable starts to get heavy and unwieldy to handle.
When the cable is more than 350 feet long this really becomes a PITA.
Less to say I was able to purchase 4 of them for under $45.00 combined!! 
