First of all, today you're looking at needing one cable for data and another cable for video. And they'll probably be different kinds of cable.

For DATA networking you don't want to be installing any more coax. We, as most everyone else, have tons of thick and thin ethernet installed that will be with us for years to come. But as of about a year ago, we made the decision not to install any more coax. And eventually we'll replace what coax we have.

Assuming that you want to run ethernet today, I would definitely recommend 10BaseT over category 5 unshielded twisted pair cable. Most vendors are saying that if this particular grade of cable is installed CORRECTLY, it will support not only 10 mbps ethernet today, but 100 mbps fast ethernet or 100 mbps CDDI. And a few vendors, AT&T and Mod Tap to name two, are advertising that they can install a category 5 UTP cable plant guaranteed to support 155 mbps, which is sort of the entry level for ATM.

Given this, we've made the decision here at MSU to install category 5 UTP instead of fiber to the desktop. Only in one very high end research center have we installed any fiber to the desktop. And that was only in a couple of key locations with extremely high bandwidth requirements. In our library, which is undergoing a major expansion and rennovation, we've decided to go with the 10BaseT category 5 UTP solution.

Now VIDEO networking is another matter, and one that I don't claim a huge amount of expertise in. But here are the issues as I see them.

First of all, you must define what you mean when you say video. Do you mean broadband, analog cable TV type video? Or perhaps baseband analog NTSC video? Or perhaps digital MPEG or MPEG-2 video? Or perhaps you're like me and don't know exactly what you mean when you say video :-) This whole arena is one that I don't feel real comfortable with today. There are just so many variables to deal with.

But if you want to distribute broadband or baseband analog video around a building, the most cost effective way to do that today is with coax. There are vendors that make and sell electronics to distribute baseband analog video over unshielded twisted pair copper, the same cable that I recommended for your data needs. But the electronics to do this is expensive, at least the stuff that I've seen. While it does have the very compelling advantage that you run the same type of cable that you run for your data network, my guess is it's probably too expensive to be practical.

Once you enter the digital video realm, then you can consider installing one cable, probably category 5 unshielded twisted pair copper, running one network topology, ATM, and running your data and video simultaneously over the same wire. This is the pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow, so to speak, in the networking industry. It's where everyone wants to be, and it's where we're headed. The question is how long it will take us to get there. Today, ATM is still bleeding edge technology. Some portions of the standard are still being defined. Some vendors are shipping product today, but its virtually all for data networking. I haven't seen any video-over-ATM products yet. My guess is that we're still several years away from this being a viable alternative.

Having said all of this, my guess is that you will probably want to distribute conventional analog broadband or baseband video around your building via coax, althought the UTP solution deserves a look.

By the way, UTP stands for Unshielded Twisted Pair, in case you were wondering. And ATM, for what it's worth, stands for Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

If you have multiple buildings that you need to hook together, the choice is clear. Fiber between buildings is the way to go. While somewhat more expensive than copper or coax, its advantages in an outdoors environment make it worth the extra expense.

This last bit of information probably won't help in your immediate situation. But I always like to mention it in case an opportunity presents itself in the future.

If I were to design the ideal building, from a networking perspective, I would make sure that there were adequate conduits and raceways from wiring closets to faceplates so that even if I guessed wrong, I could come back down the road and pull whatever the newest, hottest stuff was, whether it be fiber, category 8 copper, or kite string. With such a conduit system in place, I don't have to worry nearly so much about making the absolute right decision. I can do what makes sense today. And do something else 5-10-15 years from now if necessary. If only architects and building planners thought like this :-)

I hope I haven't rambled too much. And I hope you can glean some useful information out of what I've said. Feel free to email or call if I've overlooked something or if you have any questions.