ISO/IEC 11801:2002 specifies a cabling infrastructure for customer premises which may comprise single or multiple buildings on a campus. It covers balanced cabling and optical fibre cabling. The cabling system constitutes part of the buildings, that supports practically all known and future applications conveying different kinds of information like voice, text, data, image and video. The cabling system is anticipated to have a usable life in excess of 10 years.

ISO/IEC 11801:2002 specifies the structure and minimum configuration of the cabling system, the minimum performance of cabling channels and links for balanced cabling up to 600 MHz, optical channel and link classes OF-300, OF-500, and OF-2000 up to 2000 m, and the interfaces at the telecommunications outlet (TO). In addition the standards specifies performance requirements for cabling components as installed over the maximum distances specified in this standard. The standard exploits capabilities of up to date components and guides developed of future applications and also provides conformance requirements and verification procedures.

ISO/IEC 11801:2002 is targeted at, but not limited to, the general office environment. It is optimised for premises in which the maximum distance over which telecommunications services can be distributed is 2000 metres. The principles of ISO/IEC 11801:2002 may be applied to larger installations.