Keia Atlas

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Vendors see their own installation and the device reference they need to build it: device types, setup guides and models. Everything else stays with Aigna.

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Device types, units, models, setup guides, standards, IT stores and cables. This demo has the Assets module switched off in Organisation settings.

Organisation settings

StandardCabling and labellingVersion 1.0

Cable colours and labels

Version 1.0, in force since 1 Mar 2026 · 2,243 patch cables checked

The colours

Colour says what a cable is for. Read the swatch, then the name: colour is never the only clue.
Blue

User data

The everyday network: desks, meeting room wall outlets, phones and printers.

If in doubt about a copper cable, it is blue.

Cat6Cat6A

Examples
  • Access switch port to patch panel port for a desk outlet
  • Access switch to a wall outlet patch panel
Green

AV and room systems

Devices that belong to a room's AV system: video bars, codecs, touch controllers, AV over network extenders and their switch.

Green is only ever the AV system's own network, never a general user connection in a meeting room.

Cat6Cat6A

Examples
  • AV switch to the AV outlets patch panel
  • Codec network port to the AV VLAN outlet
Yellow

Uplinks and trunks

Copper links between network devices: switch to firewall, switch to wireless controller, and the internet handoff.

Fibre uplinks take the fibre colour below, so a yellow copper cable is always a trunk between two pieces of network kit.

Cat6ADirect attach (DAC)

Same colour as singlemode fibre: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • Core switch to firewall
  • Firewall to the internet provider's handoff
Red

Critical and security systems

Links that must never be unplugged by accident: firewall failover, door access, CCTV and fire or life-safety interfaces.

A red cable is never moved, re-used or unplugged without a change record.

Cat6Cat6A

Examples
  • Firewall A to firewall B failover link
  • Door controller to its switch port
Aqua

Multimode fibre

Short fibre runs inside the building: switch uplinks, core interconnects and the risers between floors.

Aqua is the jacket colour that fibre manufacturers use for OM3 and OM4, so it is never re-used for anything else.

Fibre OM3Fibre OM4

Examples
  • Core switch to the floor riser fibre panel
  • Access switch uplink to the core
Yellow

Singlemode fibre

Long fibre runs and the internet providers' fibre.

Yellow is the jacket colour that fibre manufacturers use for singlemode, so a yellow fibre must never be plugged into a multimode port.

Fibre OS2

Same colour as uplinks and trunks: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • Provider fibre from the fibre panel to the internet handoff
Grey

Management

The management network: each device's own management port, and the power strips' network cards.

Grey copper is management. A grey power cord is a different thing (feed B) and is told apart by its plug.

Cat6Cat6A

Same colour as power, feed B: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • Firewall management port to the out-of-band router
  • Core switch management port to the out-of-band router
Purple

Console and out-of-band

The way in when the network is down: console cables to the console server, and the out-of-band router's links.

Purple cables must still work when everything else is down, so nothing else is ever run through a purple cable.

ConsoleCat6Cat6A

Examples
  • Console server port to a core switch console port
  • Out-of-band router to the console server
Black

Power, feed A

Power from the A feed's power strip or UPS.

Every device with two power supplies has one black cord and one grey cord, never two of the same.

Power C13 to C14Power C19 to C20

Same colour as room leads: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • Core switch A power cord to power strip A
Grey

Power, feed B

Power from the B feed's power strip.

A power cord is grey for feed B. It is never mistaken for a management cable because it ends in a power plug, not an RJ45.

Power C13 to C14Power C19 to C20

Same colour as management: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • Core switch A second power cord to power strip B
Orange

Temporary

Anything patched for a short time: a test, a move, a project cut-over.

An orange cable has a remove-by date on its label, never more than 30 days ahead.

Cat6Cat6AFibre OM3Fibre OM4Fibre OS2ConsolePower C13 to C14

Examples
  • A laptop patched into a switch during a commissioning
Black

Room leads

Leads in meeting rooms and desks, and the spares kept for them. Not colour coded.

Room leads are the manufacturer's colour (black). They are labelled at both ends when they are fixed in place, and they do not enter a comms room.

HDMIDisplayPortUSB-C

Same colour as power, feed A: told apart by the cable type and the plug.

Examples
  • HDMI from a wall plate to a display
  • USB-C from a table box to a laptop

How a label reads

Site, space, rack, unit, port. At both ends of every cable.

A label, as printed

Reads: Dublin office, comms room 3.21, rack 1, unit 15 (the first access switch), port 7.

SITE
The site's three-letter code. DUB
ROOM
The room number as it is on the door. 3.21
RACK
R and the rack's number in that room. R1
UNIT
U and the lowest rack unit of the device or panel, counted from the bottom of the rack, two digits. U15
PORT
P and the port number, two digits. A duplex fibre pair counts as one port. P07

Format: SITE-ROOM-RACK-UNIT-PORT, for example DUB-3.21-R1-U15-P07.

Rules for every label

  1. Both ends of every cable carry a label. Line one says where this end plugs in. Line two says where the other end goes.
  2. Power cords use the same format with the power strip in place of the unit and the outlet in place of the port, for example DUB-3.21-R1-PDUA-O05.
  3. Labels are printed, never handwritten, on a self-laminating wrap that goes round the cable so it reads from any side.
  4. Put the label on the cable within 50 mm of the plug, not on the plug's boot and not on a tag that can slide.
  5. Choose the shortest stocked length that leaves a gentle loop. Never leave a coil of spare cable behind a cable manager.
  6. When a cable moves, both labels change the same day and the record in Keia changes with them.
  7. Spare cables are kept in bundles of ten by type, length and colour, with a tag that says which. They carry no port label until they are patched.
  8. The colour is on the cable jacket. Labels are always white, so a label is never mistaken for a colour code.

Lengths we stock

0.3 m0.5 m1 m1.5 m2 m3 m5 m

An example rack front

A small comms room. Every cord is the colour for its purpose, so the rack can be read from the door.
Example rack front with cords coloured by purposeA 16 unit rack. Aqua fibre joins the core switch to the fibre panel and the access switch. Yellow carries the provider, firewall and core uplinks. A red cable joins the two firewalls. Blue cords join the access switch to the patch panel. A green cord joins the AV switch to the panel. Purple is the console cable and grey is management. Power strips at each side are black for feed A and grey for feed B.AB16151413121110987654321Fibre patch panelInternet provider handoffFirewall AFirewall BCore switchAccess switchPatch panelAV switchOut-of-band router and console serverUPS
  • Aqua Core switch to the fibre patch panelOM4 fibre
  • Yellow Provider fibre to the internet handoffOS2 singlemode fibre
  • Aqua Core switch to access switchOM4 fibre
  • Purple Console cable to the access switchConsole
  • Yellow Internet handoff to firewall ACat6A uplink
  • Red Firewall failover linkCat6A critical
  • Yellow Firewall B to the core switchCat6A uplink
  • Blue Access switch to the patch panel, one per desk outletCat6A user data
  • Green AV switch to the AV outlets on the panelCat6A AV
  • Grey Management port to the out-of-band routerCat6 management
  • Black and grey power cords to the strips at the backFeed A black, feed B grey. The small inlets at the right of each device show both.

Which cable can be which colour

A fibre is never blue, and an HDMI lead is never a colour code.
CableConnectorsColours it can be
Cat6RJ45 to RJ45, 1 Gb/s
Blue: User dataGreen: AV and room systemsRed: Critical and security systemsGrey: ManagementPurple: Console and out-of-bandOrange: Temporary
Cat6ARJ45 to RJ45, 10 Gb/s and PoE
Blue: User dataGreen: AV and room systemsYellow: Uplinks and trunksRed: Critical and security systemsGrey: ManagementPurple: Console and out-of-bandOrange: Temporary
Fibre OM3LC duplex, multimode
Aqua: Multimode fibreOrange: Temporary
Fibre OM4LC duplex, multimode
Aqua: Multimode fibreOrange: Temporary
Fibre OS2LC duplex, singlemode
Yellow: Singlemode fibreOrange: Temporary
Direct attach (DAC)SFP+ to SFP+ copper, short runs in a rack
Yellow: Uplinks and trunks
ConsoleRJ45 to serial, or USB-C to RJ45
Purple: Console and out-of-bandOrange: Temporary
HDMIHDMI to HDMI
Black: Room leads
DisplayPortDisplayPort to DisplayPort
Black: Room leads
USB-CUSB-C to USB-C
Black: Room leads
Power C13 to C14IEC C13 to IEC C14, 10 A
Black: Power, feed AGrey: Power, feed BOrange: Temporary
Power C19 to C20IEC C19 to IEC C20, 16 A
Black: Power, feed AGrey: Power, feed B

TIA-606 and cable colours

Checked 29 Sept 2026

Not verified against the standard

What it covers. TIA-606 is the industry standard for the administration of telecommunications cabling: how cables, patch panel ports, racks and rooms are identified, labelled and recorded. It is a labelling and records standard. It is not a cable specification.

What we found about patch cord colours. We could not confirm what the standard itself says about patch cord colours. The standard is sold, not published free, and we did not have a copy. Every secondary source we could read says the same thing: colour coding is a recommendation, it applies to labels and termination fields, coloured cords are accepted as an extra alongside labels, and none of them says patch cord colours are mandatory. Treat that as likely, not proven.

Limits. This is not checked against the standard's own text. Before anyone quotes TIA-606 to a customer or an auditor, read the current edition. Aigna's colours are a house choice and do not claim to be TIA-606 colours.

Sources we read

  • Fiber Optics Tech Consortium: ANSI/TIA-606-DConfirms the fourth edition was published in October 2021 and that it is the administration standard for telecommunications infrastructure. Its contents list includes a section on colour-coding identification. It does not say which items are coloured.
  • Silver Fox: TIA-606 cable labeling compliance guideSays the standard does not mandate coloured jackets or patch cords, that colour is a visual supplement to labels, and that colour-coded patch cords in place of colour-coded labels are acceptable if the port labels still carry unique identifiers.
  • Silver Fox: Data center cable labeling and TIA-606-DSays every cable, patch panel port, rack and space should carry a unique identifier, with labels at both ends of every link, and that colour-coding of labels is recommended and not mandatory.
  • Cabling Installation & Maintenance: Color-coding cablingDescribes TIA/EIA-606 colour coding as applying to termination fields and labels (for example orange for the provider side of the demarcation point and blue for horizontal cabling), and does not address patch cord jacket colours.
  • Brady: TIA-606-C cable labeling standardsSays the earlier edition, TIA-606-B, recommended colour-coding of cables, cords, termination fields, labels and pathways, and lists a termination-field colour table. It does not describe a rule for patch cord colours.

Fibre jacket colours

Aqua for OM3 and OM4 and yellow for singlemode are the fibre manufacturers' own jacket colours, so the standard follows them: aqua is only ever fibre, and yellow is singlemode fibre or a copper uplink, told apart by the plug.

  • Wikipedia: Multi-mode optical fiberSays aqua is recommended for OM3 and OM4 laser-optimised 50/125 fibre, orange for OM1 and OM2, and that yellow is kept for singlemode fibre.
  • Brady: Fiber optic color codeLists the jacket colours by fibre type under TIA-598: orange for OM1 and OM2, aqua for OM3 and OM4, and yellow for OS1 and OS2.

Where it applies

Owner: Service manager, IT infrastructure · part of the structured cabling standard

  • Patch cables and patch cords in every comms room (MDF and IDF), including the spare cables kept for them.
  • Power cords inside a rack, to the rack power strips.
  • Room leads (HDMI, USB-C, DisplayPort, audio) are not colour coded, but they carry the same two-ended label when they are fixed in place.
  • The permanent cabling behind the walls is installed by the contractor to the building specification. It is labelled at the patch panel and the outlet with this same format.

Aigna is a made-up company, so this is a demo of how a house standard can live inside Keia Atlas. The colours are a house choice. Keia Atlas checks every cable in its data against this page: a cable whose colour is not the standard's colour for its purpose stops the build.

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See Keia Atlas the way someone else does. A demo: nobody signs in.

Viewing asAnna ByrneAV and IT delivery engineer · EMEA

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About Cable colours and labels

Goes to Sofia Reyes, Service manager, AV. Reviewed within five working days.