By Cindy Montstream, Legrand
The Places of Assembly Task Group—formed within the TIA’s TR-42.1 Subcommittee—is looking for volunteers to participate in a monthly call to identify unique requirements for large commercial spaces not addressed in other TIA standards. Examples of these spaces including airports, stadiums and convention centers. Participation from anyone in the industry having experience installing, designing, and supporting these types of spaces is vital to the success of this project. Individuals do not need to be TIA members to participate in this task group.
The TIA TR-42.1 Subcommittee, responsible for developing and maintaining cabling standards for generic customer-owned telecommunications networks, has resumed work in a task group established to investigate developing a standard for large commercial places with unique requirements not addressed in other TIA TR-42 standards. These large commercial spaces potentially have structured cabling and space challenges outside the general cabling guidelines of standards like TIA-568.0 (General Cabling) and TIA-569 (Pathways and Spaces) and other premises standards. These challenges may include things like distance between connection points, accommodations for special equipment, special requirements for pathways, wireless coverage, security, etc. These places include areas like airports, train stations, theaters, stadiums, convention centers, etc.
Originally named the Large Building Task Group, the name was changed to Places of Assembly Task Group. This was a result of the Task Group deciding to use the Assembly Group occupancy classification under the International Building Codes as a guideline for the types of places to consider. This provided more guidance than trying to define a “large building.”
The task group meets by conference call once a month. The calls have been for one hour, however they will increase to two hours as work progresses. The task group has had several conferences calls to date, but work is very early in the process. Participation from anyone in the industry having experience installing, designing, and supporting these types of spaces is very important for the success of this project. As a task group, we will decide whether to proceed developing a TSB (Telecommunications Systems Bulletin) or ANSI/TIA standard based on the amount and type of unique requirements we identify. You do not need to be a TIA member to participate in a task group.
If you are interested in participating in the Places of Assembly Task Group, please email Cindy Montstream at [email protected].
The TIA TR-42.1 Subcommittee develops and maintains cabling standards for generic customer-owned telecommunications networks. These standards are intended to specify open systems designed to support a wide variety of voice, data, video and other low-voltage, power-limited applications. Also, this Subcommittee develops and maintains telecommunications cabling standards for premises networks such as commercial and intelligent buildings, data centers, healthcare, education, etc. This Subcommittee specifies cabling systems topology, architecture, design, installation and performance requirements.