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With
the growth of streaming media applications including
multimedia and video, and bandwidth-intensive applications such
as voice over IP (VoIP), the demand for faster data rates is set
to continue. In the past, the trend has been for data transfer
rates to double every 18 months. Applications in use today
running at 1Gbps are at the limits of the capabilities of Cat5e
cable. The
main difference between Cat5e and Cat6 is in the
transmission speed, Cat5e operates at a frequency of 100MHz,
compared to Cat6 which operates at 250MHz. This results in
Cat5e being capable of transmission speeds of up to 1Gbps,
compared to 10Gbps for Cat6. This is also achieved by reduced
insertion loss, near end crosstalk (NEXT), return loss, and equal
level far end crosstalk (ELFEXT). |
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These
improvements lead to a higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing greater
reliability for
today's applications and a higher data rate for tomorrow's. 10GBASE-T
(10Gbps Ethernet over twisted pair copper cable) is on the immediate
horizon.
This standard will start to be installed from the second quarter
2006 with Ultima leading
the way with an early adoption. |
