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Data Cabling, Cat5e Cat6/6a Cabling, Washington DC

New Standards for Cabling and Category 8 Update

20 May 2017

Data Cabling, Cat5e Cat6/6a Cabling, Washington DC The selection of proper cabling has become more crucial and also more complicated, but the process can be made easier by knowing about the choices available and updates regarding the development of Category 8 (CAT 8).

There are several organizations that determine the standards for cabling, such as the ISO (International Organization for Standardization), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association), and CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization). However, our discussion will primarily focus on ISO/IEC and TIA.

As its standard calls for 10Gb/s rates of transmission, 10GBASE-T cabling is the fastest in the market. Unable to support 10Gb/s, Category 5e does not receive 10GBASE-T standard recognition. In addition, advisories by the TIA and ISO/IEC and TIA state that new class E/category 6 cabling should not be installed to support 10GBASE T. As a result, the cabling options for new installations that meet the 10GBASE-T standards for carrying data up to 100 meters are only found in the class EA/CAT 6A, class F/CAT 7, or class FA/CAT 7A.

Regarding data centers that are newly built, ISO, along with other standards organizations, have determined that CAT 6A should be the minimum grade. The task force overseeing IEEE 802.3 40GBASE-T have drafted the baseline objectives for the future 40 Gb/s standard, which is well beyond the capabilities of CAT 6A.

Cabling of a higher category traditionally matches and surpasses the electrical and mechanical standards of what preceded it. In addition, it is backwards compatible. Although TIA calls for cabling systems to perform at CAT 6A minimum, it will not be adopting CAT 7 or 7A as determined by ISO/IEC. TIA is naming its next class of cabling, Category 8, to differentiate it from ISO/IEC standards for CAT 7 and CAT 7A.

Interestingly, the proposed performance for CAT 8 will not be meeting or exceeding CAT 7A standards for up to 1 GHz. For example, regarding parameters for internal crosstalk, CAT 7A is superior to CAT 8 by more than 20 decibels.

Union Network Cabling

When work requires a unionized cabling group, call on Progressive Office Inc. for your commercial Cat5e/6/6a and fiber cabling projects. Specializing in cabling for data, voice, security and even the latest WiFi and LiFi solutions. Phone: (202) 462-4290

cable,Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling

Category 5e Cabling Becoming Obsolete

4 Apr 2017

Stu Kushner

cable,Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling It is inevitable that applications requiring speeds greater than 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps will increase. The growing use of wireless devices, high resolution images, HD video streaming, surveillance, and multimedia are straining the capacity of Category 5e infrastructure, and there will come a point when it will be unable to cope.

Although it is capable of handling 1000 Mbps speeds at 100 MHz, the upgrading of Category 5e cabling will be necessary in the near future in order to support new applications and emerging technologies that will be deployed by businesses that are bandwidth intensive.

Category 5e Inadequate in Near Future

Cabling will be migrating from being behind walls to above ceilings, where it can end at a wireless access point (WAP). Much more cabling will be needed to serve an increasing utilization of WAPs for numerous users.

The advent and growth of new Wave 2 WiFi devices, which transmit at data at ranges of 1 Gbps up to perhaps 7 Gbps, will require faster Ethernet links for the connection of these WAPs. Installing Category 6A cabling may be the only effective solution for companies. The need for average speeds greater than 1G is increasing, perhaps to 10G. Category 5e is incapable of carrying speeds of 10 Gbps speeds over a required distance of 100 meters.

An emerging technology using balanced twisted-pair cabling, HDBaseT is used to transmit uncompressed HD video, audio, Ethernet, control, and power over 100 meters. Category 5e will be unable to support it, while Category 6A cabling is capable.

4-cable pair PoE, the next power over Ethernet standard, provides power more efficiently. However, the gauge of cable must grow in order for the reduction of resistance and permit higher power delivery. Consequently, 4-pair PoE has superior performance on Category 6A 23 AWG than Category 5e 24 AWG.

Cabling Standards Recommend Category 6A

For certain organizations, such as educational institutions, commercial buildings, data centers, and healthcare facilities, new installations require or recommend at least Category 6 cabling. Even though Category 6A may require greater capital expenditure than Category 5e cabling, costs will be decreased in the long term. A company’s network will be future proofed and will be capable of supporting new applications and emerging technologies.

Union Network Cabling

When union work requires a unionized cabling group, call on Union Network Cabling for your commercial Cat5e/6/6a and fiber cabling projects. Specializing in cabling for data, voice, security and even the latest WiFi and LiFi solutions. Phone: (202) 462-4290

Cat6 Q&A

4 Feb 2013

Stu Kushner

What is Cat6? Cat6 components are interoperable between different vendors and are fully backward compatible. Cat6 has the same nominal Impedance of 100 Ohms as Cat5 and 5e components, but with tighter tolerance on Impedance variations. Transmission parameters are specified to 250 MHz, compared to 100 MHz for Cat 5/5e.

Do Cat6 components behave differently? The diameters of Cat6 cables range between 0.21 to 0.25 inch (5.3 - 5.8 mm) compared to Cat5/5e’s range of 0.19 to 0.22 inch (4.8 – 5.5 mm). Cat6 also has a tighter twist length to reduce crosstalk interference.

What about installation? Cat6 cables and components are installed similar to Cat5/5e. There are design and installation issues that contractors and installers must pay greater attention to; including cable terminations and the pathway fill.

Will Cat6 supersede Cat5/5e? Yes. The only question is when. The installed cost for Cat6 cabling can be about 20 % higher than Cat5e, but prices will decrease as usage increases.

Will Cat6 deliver what is promised? Yes. There are no technical obstacles. Test parameters and procedures to qualify Cat6 components to ensure interoperability between different vendor’s products are in place and detailed.

What about the installed performance compared with Cat5/5e? The biggest benefit is much-improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio at the Receiver: Cat6 provides about 16 times better Signal-to-Noise Ratio compared to Cat5/5e over a wide frequency range.

Why do we need Cat6? The real question is “is Cat5e good enough for today and in the foreseeable future?” The answer is “Yes, but…”. Network switch ports are often at the “marginally compliant” limits of the IEEE standard and susceptible to cabling and temperature variations. Cat6 provides fewer bit errors than Category 5e for 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T applications.

Choosing between Cat5e and Cat6 at your Office

24 Apr 2009

Stu Kushner

Trends

The trend is towards higher speeds, of course. Offices have faster computers, faster Internet and more demanding applications. But does this translate into a need for Cat6 cable?

Category 5e and Cat6 Cable

Cat 5e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk. Cat 5e cable does not enable longer cable distances for Ethernet networks: cables are still limited to a maximum of 100m (328 ft) in length. Each Cat 5e cable can carry up to 100mb/sec of data.

Cat 6 cable carries 1gb/sec of data and therefore has 10 times the data capacity of Cat 5e.

The Decision Considerations

Cat 6 will not make your Internet speeds faster. Even at fiber speeds, the Internet still only runs at a fraction of Cat 5 speeds. Cat 6 will also not make VOIP phones were better because VOIP uses only 60-90k per phone line. So, VOIP is a very unlikely reason for using Cat6 cabling

The only reason for using Cat 6 is because you are pushing a lot of data over your cable. This is true when you are running applications off of a server as in the case of a virtual PC environment where applications do not reside on the local desktop system. It is also true when you have applications that have very large data files as in CAD/CAM and other demanding graphic design systems.

A secondary, yet important, consideration is cost. Cat 6 cable is twice as expensive as Cat 5e and it also r

equires Cat 6 jacks, inserts, patch panels and switches. This can add considerably to the overall cost of a project. Any Cat 5 component will slow the connection down to 100mb.

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