The newest patch cords from Siemon are made with flat cable and are Category 6-compatible, the company says - meaning they support Category 6 transmission performance. Siemon says the flat-cable design enables these cords to provide a tighter bend radius than round-cable Cat 6 cords provide. The flat design also makes cable routing easier, the company adds.
The four-pair cords include 28-gauge wire oriented in a rectangular cross section 2.2 mm (0.089 in.) in thickness. Siemon says with this size and shape, two or three of these flat cords can be bundled in the space that one round cord with 24-gauge wires occupies.
Siemon acknowledges that often, smaller-gauge conductors such as those used in this flat-cable construction produce unreliable connections. But, the company says, these cords' contact design and cable construction hold up when other cords do not. Siemon conducted performance testing and found that return-loss performance degraded by 5 dB when other commercially available flat-construction cords were used. By contrast, the same testing with these new Siemon cords showed no degradation in return-loss performance.
You can find a data sheet on the new flat, Category 6-compatible patch cords here.