Structured cabling in Georgia, in the order the work actually happens
The cable plant outlives every device plugged into it. Cameras, access controllers, phones and access points all get replaced inside a decade; the pathways, the telecom rooms and the horizontal runs stay. Sequencing is what separates a cable plant you can add to from one that has to be torn out, so here is how a KSEDCO job moves from empty ceiling to signed closeout.
1. Pathways and telecom rooms, before anything is pulled
The single constraint that reshapes more Georgia projects than any other is distance. A horizontal run is limited to 90 meters of permanent link, with patch cords bringing the total channel to 100 meters. Distribution buildings around Hartsfield-Jackson and the warehouse space along I-16 and I-95 behind the Savannah port routinely exceed that from a single room, which means either intermediate telecom rooms or fiber out to zone enclosures on the floor. Deciding that after the slab is poured is expensive. We locate rooms, sleeves and riser penetrations first, then design the drop count around them.
2. Rough-in and pull
Jacket rating follows the space: plenum-rated cable in return-air ceilings, riser-rated in vertical shafts. Penetrations get firestopped as they are made, not at the end. Category cable stays clear of parallel power runs and out of contact with lighting ballasts and conduit. Runs between buildings need outside-plant cable with water blocking, which matters more in Georgia humidity and in flood-prone coastal-plain conduit than most specifications acknowledge, and that cable must transition to listed indoor cable within 50 feet of the entrance point.
3. Termination and certification
Cat5e supports gigabit links and is still fine for phones, card readers and low-bandwidth devices. Cat6 improves headroom and supports 10 Gbps over reduced distance. Cat6A carries 10 Gbps across the full channel and is the sensible default for access points and higher-power PoE devices, where cable heating inside a full bundle is a real design factor. Every drop gets certified with a field tester against the category being installed, and you receive the result file. A continuity check that proves the link light comes on is not certification and will not tell you why a camera drops packets in year three.
4. Labeling and as-built records
Both ends of every run are labeled to a scheme agreed before installation, the patch panel matches the faceplate, and the floor plan matches both. Rack elevations, port assignments and pathway routes are recorded as built, not as drawn.
5. What you hold at closeout
- Certification results for every drop, with tester model and calibration date.
- Labeled as-built drawings showing drop locations, pathways and room assignments.
- Rack elevations and patch panel port schedules.
- Fiber test results, including loss measurements per link and connector type.
- Photographs of pathways and terminations before ceilings close.
Georgia conditions that change the specification
Tenant fit-outs in Cumberland and Perimeter towers usually mean working an existing riser after hours, with a building engineer controlling access and a hard stop each morning. Film and television stages need cabling that tolerates reconfiguration between productions. Unconditioned warehouse space swings through wide temperature and humidity ranges that affect both cable and the equipment at the end of it. And summer thunderstorm activity makes grounding and bonding a design item rather than a formality: a properly bonded telecom room busbar and surge protection at building entrances prevent the failures that otherwise get blamed on the switch.
Tell us the building, the drop count and the devices it has to serve, and we will scope it properly. KSEDCO, 2700 Cumberland Pkwy SE, Suite 410, Atlanta GA 30339. Call (888) 360-0035 or use our contact page.
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