Networking

UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cables are widely used in most networks of the computer and telecommunications industry, as Ethernet cables or telephone wires. This tutorial aims to describe the knowledge of UTP cabling. UTP Cables & Cabling Characteristics The quality of UTP cables varies from telephone-grade wire to extremely high-speed cable. Most UTP cables used in structured cabling systems today are comprised of carefully twisted pairs of solid copper wire inside the insulated jacket, providing high bandwidth, low attenuation and crosstalk. Several categories of UTP cables are now available in the market. Among them, categories 5e and 6 UTP cables are the most popular types of UTP cabling in today’s networks. For UTP cabling, there are some characteristics, as shown in the following table. Characteristic Value Maximum Cable Length 100 meters Bandwidth Up to 1000 Mbps Bend Radius Minimum four times the cable diameter or 1 inch Installation & Maintenance Easy to ...

10 Gigabit Ethernet is a networking technology for data transmission at a rate of 10 Gbps. To achieve 10 GbE, either copper or fiber cabling is available. Because of its bandwidth, higher-grade copper cables are needed, such as Augmented Cat6 (Cat 6a) or Cat7. This tutorial will introduce Cat6a cabling solution for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Introduction of  Cat 6a Cable Cat 6a is a 4-connector twisted pair copper cable. It can support the distance up to 100 meters at 10 Gbps data rate. So Cat 6a cabling system is ready to support 802.3an 10GBASE-T standard released by the IEEE, which specifies 10 Gbps data transmission over four-pair copper cabling. Cat 6a extends electrical specifications to 500 MHz from 250 MHz for Cat 6 cabling. Cat 6a cables are fully compatible with previous cable including Cat6 and 5e. But Cat 6a cable is different from those cables. It has larger outer diameter, corresponding larger minimum bend radius, and heavier weight. There are two kinds of Cat 6a ...

Twisted pair cables are widely used in transmitting information. The twist in the wire cancels out any magnetic interference that may develop in the wiring. There are two kinds of twisted pair cabling, shielded twisted pair (STP) and unshielded twisted pair (UTP). For 10GBASE-T data transmission with distance up to 100 meters, both STP and UTP copper cabling systems are applicable as it defines in IEEE 802.3an-2006 standard. So which one will you choose for achieving the best performance of your 10GBASE-T network? UTP doesn’t use any additional shielding, except of the plastic sheath around cable. While STP is a twisted pair cable that is additionally insulated by foil or/and braided copper shielding. For STP and UTP, each has its advantages and disadvantages. The following will talk about their performances in 10GBASE-T network from the sides of alien crosstalk, termination&installation and costs. Alien Crosstalk In 10GBASE-T applications, it’s alien crosstalk (the nois...