Having a clear understanding of the TIA standards ensures that the network infrastructure is installed with the best practices in mind, which is critical for the customer to get up and running as quickly as possible and with as few start-up issues as possible. TIA/EIA-568-C is the standard for Ethernet, very similar to how NEC is the standard for electrical systems. It defines cabling types, distances, connectors, cable system architectures, cable termination standards and performance characteristics, cable installation requirements, and methods of testing installed cable. The first area of focus is on the standards that have been created as part of TIA-568 for the industrial premise, which is TIA-1005; and the aspects of this standard that focus on the type of cabling/infrastructure that are required, along with laying out the architecture for industrial facilities. It is best to understand what part of the architecture one is working on, in order to best choose the right type of infrastructure required. Conceptually, it starts at the bottom, where “EO” stands for equipment outlet, or in the industrial space the ‘edge device’ (for example a sensor or drive). Then there are two, and sometimes three, sets of patching systems or “distributors”, such as a consolidation of ethernet nodes in a common spot, either into DIN mount industrial switches (such as a Zone enclosure) or 19” switches for higher port count requirements (Such as an Industrial distribution frame). These distribution systems are on the way up to the industrial network core at the top, such as a Data Center for the plant floor, where things like the DMZ (the demilitarized zone) lives – the separation of the Office and Plant floor space. From the bottom up, these are depicted as “DA” (Distributor A), “DB” (Distributor B) and “DC” (Distributor C). Distributor C is the patching, collocated with the actual network core equipment. The cabling subsystems also start at the bottom and move up toward the network core. The links that connect the equipment outlet is “Cabling Subsystem 1”, then moving up from there is Subsystem 2 and Subsystem 3 attaching the network core. Each of these areas depict different areas of the plant floor and may require different types of solutions (some industrial rated and others standard enterprise type of solutions). For example - Subsystem 1 is usually copper and subsystems 2 and 3 are usually some kind of fiber. The reason fiber links are broken into two subsystems is that these may be completely different kinds of fiber links depending on distance and environments. M.I.C.E. provides a method of categorizing the environmental classes for each factory cell or area zone and provides the determination of the level of “hardening” required for the network media, connectors, pathways and enclosures.