At its meeting held in June, the Telecommunications Industry Association’s TR-42 Telecommunications Cabling Systems Engineering Committee initiated four standards projects related to single-twisted-pair cabling systems. One of those projects is the effort that ultimately will result in the publication of ANSI/TIA-568.5, specifying single-twisted-pair cabling and components. The standard will provide specifications for cables, connectors, cords, links and channels using one-pair connectivity in non-industrial networks, according to a working statement of the standard’s scope. The standard will be geared toward what are called “MICE1” environments. MICE is an acronym for mechanical, ingress, climatic, and electromagnetic. The TIA-1005 standard series includes MICE tables, which numerically characterize the network environment’s severity for each of the four conditions. The higher the number, the more severe the environment. In practical application, a MICE1 environment is a commercial office space.
