Should I use ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B or ISO/IEC 11801?

If you have been in the business of data communication cabling for a while, you should have learned these two structured cabling standards: TIA/EIA-568–B and ISO/IEC 11801 2nd Edition. Now the question is: which standard should you follow?

Though these two standards are quite silimar (ISO/IEC 11801 was based on ANSI/TIA/EIA-568–A), the ISO/IEC 11801 Standard was developed with cable commonly used in Europe and consequently contains some references more specific to European applications. Also, some terminology in the two documents is different.

If you are designing a cabling system to be used in the United States or Canada, you should follow the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568–B Standard. You should know, though, that the ISO is taking the lead in developing new cabling specifications(with assistance from TIA, EIA, CSA, and others), so maybe in the future you will see only a single Standard implemented worldwide that will be a combination of both specifications.