IEC 61918:2010 specifies basic requirements for the installation of media for communication networks in industrial premises and within and between the automation islands, of industrial sites. It covers balanced and optical fibre cabling and the cabling infrastructure for wireless media, but not the wireless media itself. Additional media are covered in the IEC 61784-5 series. It also covers:
- the installation of generic telecommunication cabling for industrial premises as specified in ISO/IEC 24702;
- the connection between the generic telecommunications cabling specified in ISO/IEC 24702
- and the specific communication cabling of an automation island, where an automation outlet (AO) replaces the telecommunication outlet (TO) of ISO/IEC 24702.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2007 and Corrigendum 1 (2009). It constitutes a technical revision. This edition includes the following technical changes with respect to the previous edition:
- 4.4.7.2.1 is updated;
- 4.4.7.3.4 is updated;
- 5.7.4.3 is updated as result of the revision of the installation profiles;
- 6.2.3.1 is updated;
- Figure 2, Figure 15, Table 14 and Table B.3 are updated;
- a new Figure 35 is added;
- a new Table 10 is added;
- Annex D is extended to cover additional communication profile families;
- Annex F is extended to cover conductor sizes in electrical cables;
- Annex H is made normative;
- some common requirements are extended as result of the revision of the installation profiles. This bilingual version (2012-05) corresponds to the monolingual English version, published in 2010-07.

This publication is to be read in conjunction with the IEC 61784-5 series and ISO/IEC 14763-2:2012.