Cat 5, Cat 6 Cable
Today, your network cabling system carries the lifeblood of your
organization - information. The installation, material, quality of cable and
testing procedures are all much more critical in data wiring than in voice.
The main reason for this is that networks today are designed to carry large
amounts of information at incredible speeds. To accomplish this over
unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP), many different criterion must be met.
Who sets the criteria and standards for network cabling? Well, the three
major players are The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE - commonly called I-triple-E ) who work on developing new protocols,
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Telecommunications
Industry Association / Electronic Industry Alliance (TIA/EIA) who issue the
standards and testing procedures. Suffice it to say that these people have
been busy over the past 12 years - as we've seen network speeds increase
from 10 million bits of information per second, over Category 3 wire, back
in 1991 to 1 billion bits (called Gigabit Ethernet) today. With bandwidth
increasing and reliance on the network at an all time high, getting
information to where it needs to be is becoming more challenging than ever.
Ask any IT Manager what their most common network problem is and you will
most likely hear them rant about cabling issues. In fact, cabling problems,
which account for over 50% of network problems, cost companies millions
annually. The most common problems are:
- Low attenuation
- Poor NEXT (near-end crosstalk)
- Poor ACR (attenuation-to-crosstalk ratio)
- Poor delay skew (data arrives at different times)
- Impedance
- Poor return loss (also known as "echo") numbers for cable, connecting hardware and channel
- Splices in cable
- Mislabeled cables
All of these problems can be avoided if the cabling is installed and tested properly. The cable must be installed following strict and specific guidelines and the testing must be done using the right equipment calibratedfor the latest standards (called certification). ACT provides this with each cable installation.