| Full title | ANSI/TIA-606-D, Administration Standard for Telecommunications Infrastructure |
| Publisher | Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) |
| Current edition | TIA-606-D, 5 October 2021. Previous revisions: 606-C (2017), 606-B (2012), 606-A (2002), first issued 1993 |
| Status | Active, most current. A North American (ANSI) standard. A revision, TIA-606-E, is in development |
| Related standards | ANSI/TIA-607-E, ANSI/TIA-568 series, TIA-5048, ISO/IEC 14763-2, ISO/IEC TR 14763-2-1, BS EN 50174-1 |
What it covers
TIA-606 specifies administration systems for telecommunications infrastructure within buildings and between buildings. It covers commercial, industrial, residential and data centre premises, from a single telecommunications space up to many spaces across multiple campuses. It applies to existing, renovated and new buildings.
The 606-D scope says the standard administers infrastructure by:
- assigning identifiers to components of the infrastructure;
- specifying the elements of information that make up the record for each identifier;
- specifying relationships between records so their information can be accessed;
- specifying reports that present information on groups of records;
- specifying graphical and symbolic requirements.
Classes of administration
The standard scales the administration system to the size of the infrastructure. The four classes, as described for 606-C, are:
| Class | Infrastructure served |
|---|---|
| Class 1 | A premises served by a single equipment room |
| Class 2 | A single building, or a tenant, served by one or more telecommunications spaces in that building |
| Class 3 | A campus, including its buildings and outside plant |
| Class 4 | A multi-campus or multi-site system |
The class sets which elements must be identified and recorded.
Identifiers
Every administered element gets a unique identifier, and each identifier is linked to a record. Identifiers are built up from location: the building and floor, the telecommunications space, the cabinet or rack position, the panel position, then the port. Labels carry the identifier so the element can be matched to its record.
Elements that are identified and labelled include:
- telecommunications spaces, and in data centres the room grid;
- racks and cabinets;
- patch panels and their ports;
- work area outlets;
- cabling, at both ends;
- pathways and firestop locations;
- bonding busbars and conductors.
606-C changed the bonding identifiers to use terms compatible with ISO/IEC 30129, the international bonding standard that EN 50310 is based on:
| Earlier term | 606-C term |
|---|---|
| TMGB | PBB, primary bonding busbar |
| TGB | SBB, secondary bonding busbar |
| RGB | RBB, rack bonding busbar |
| GE | BBC, backbone bonding conductor |
| BCT | TBC, telecommunications bonding conductor |
606-C also added an annex on administration of cabling that supports remote powering, and replaced the automated infrastructure management content of 606-B-1 with a reference to TIA-5048, an adaptation of ISO/IEC 18598.
Labels
Labels are the physical form of the identifier. As set out in 606-B, labels must be legible and permanent, be placed at both ends of cables, show the termination point identification, and match the records.
Colour coding of termination fields
606-B gives a colour code for termination fields. Colour coding is a recommendation, not a requirement, in 606-C.
| Colour | Termination field (606-B) |
|---|---|
| Orange | Central office connection |
| Green | User side of central office connection |
| Purple | Connection to PBX, mainframe, LAN or multiplexer |
| White | Cabling Subsystem 3: main cross-connect to intermediate cross-connects |
| Grey | Cabling Subsystem 2: intermediate to horizontal cross-connects |
| Brown | Campus cable between buildings |
| Blue | Cabling Subsystem 1 terminations in telecommunications spaces |
| Yellow | Alarms, security or energy management |
How it relates to ISO/IEC and European standards
| Document | Relationship |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 14763-1 | Former international administration standard. Withdrawn on 28 June 2018 and replaced by ISO/IEC 14763-2 |
| ISO/IEC 14763-2:2019 | Current international standard for planning, installation and operation of customer premises cabling |
| ISO/IEC TR 14763-2-1 | International identifier formats for administration systems. 606-C removed an earlier preference for formats compatible with it |
| BS EN 50174-1 | European requirements for administration and records. It references ISO/IEC TR 14763-2-1 for identifiers and EN 50667 for automated infrastructure management |
| ANSI/TIA-607-E | North American bonding and grounding standard. 606 sets the identifiers for its busbars and conductors |
What it means in practice
- Where a UK project specifies TIA-606, confirm the revision, the class and the identifier format before installation.
- On EN-based projects, the administration requirements of BS EN 50174-1 apply. Agree whether TIA-606 or ISO/IEC TR 14763-2-1 identifiers will be used.
- Use printed, durable labels at both ends of each cable and on each panel, port and outlet.
- Hand over records that match the labels, and keep them up to date under change control.
Related reading: Patch panels explained · What is structured cabling?.