Net2Edge Liberator 44 Series - Table 9: Copper Cable Descriptions

LIB-4400/4424 Installation Guide
| MANUAL Page 52 of 65
ANSI/EIA Standard 568 is one of several standards that specify "categories" (each a "CAT") of twisted
pair cabling systems. Assigned by the American National Standards Institute/Electronic Industries
Association, these standards categories include CAT 1 – CAT 7, as shown below.
Table 9: Copper Cable Descriptions
Category
Max Data Rate
Typical Application
CAT 5
100 MHz
100 Mbps TPDDI. 155 Mbps ATM. No longer supported;
replaced by 5E. 10/100BASE-T.
CAT 5E
100 MHz
100 Mbps TPDDI, 155 Mbps ATM, Gigabit Ethernet. Offers
better near-end crosstalk than CAT 5.
CAT 6
Up to 250 MHz
Minimum cabling required for data centers in TIA-942. CAT 6
is quickly replacing CAT 5e.
CAT 6E
Up to 500 MHz
Field-tested to 500 MHz. Supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet
(10GBASE-T). May be either shielded (STP, ScTP, S/FTP) or
unshielded (UTP). Standard published in Feb. 2008. The
minimum requirement for Data Centres in the ISO Data
Centre standard.
CAT 7 (ISO Class F)
600 MHz, 1.2 GHz in
pairs with Siemon
connector
Full-motion video, Teleradiology, Government and
manufacturing environments. Fully Shielded (S/FTP) system
using non-RJ45 connectors but backwards compatible with
hybrid cords. Standard published in 2002. Until Feb. 2008,
the only standard to support 10GBASE-T for a full 100m.
CAT 7A/Class FA and Category 6A/Class EA specifications were published in February, 2008.
Cat 6 (Category 6) Copper Cable
Category 6 cable, commonly referred to as Cat 6, is a standardized cable for Gigabit Ethernet and other
network physical layers that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable
standards. Compared to Cat 5 and Cat 5e, Cat 6 provides more stringent specifications for crosstalk and
system noise. The Cat 6 cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for
10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX (Fast Ethernet), 1000BASE-T/1000BASE-TX (Gigabit Ethernet) and 10GBASE-
T (10-Gigabit Ethernet).
Category 6 cable has a reduced maximum length when used for 10GBASE-T.
Like most of the earlier twisted-pair cables, Category 6 cable contains four twisted wire pairs. Attenuation,
Near End crosstalk (NEXT), and PSNEXT (Power Sum NEXT) in Cat 6 cable and connectors are all
much lower than Cat 5 or Cat 5e, which uses 24 AWG wire. The increase in performance with Cat 6
comes mainly from increased (22 AWG) wire size. Because the conductor sizes are generally the same,
Cat 6 jacks may also be used with Cat 5e cable.
Category 6 cable can be identified by the printing on the side of the cable sheath. Cat 6 patch cables are
normally terminated in 8P8C modular connectors. If Cat 6 rated patch cables, jacks, and connectors are
not used with Cat 6 wiring, overall performance is degraded to that of the cable or connector.
Connectors use either T568A or T568B pin assignments; although performance is comparable provided
both ends of a cable are the same, T568B is a deprecated standard in the US and no longer supported by
TIA.