Dennis B. Szakaly, RCDD
MIS Engineering/Research
Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
Allentown, PA
I`m amazed by the continuing discussion about the possibility of Category 6 cabling. Most companies in this country have probably cabled their facilities with Category 5 cabling by now. Do the wiring manufacturers really believe that these companies will continue to cable and recable their buildings just to gain an incremental increase in bandwidth?
Companies are continually looking at ways to cut overhead expenses. If a company has the appropriate monetary resources, it should be looking to fiber optics to solve media bandwidth capacity issues. If a company wired with Category 5 is considering greater-bandwidth media, then fiber should be the cable of choice, especially because the company will not need to fund another cabling project so soon.
Manufacturers of network-hardware products should direct their engineering efforts to enabling the running of the highest speeds possible on the lowest grade of unshielded twisted-pair cable. They should look at cost-effective ways to be competitive in the fiber arena.
If recabling is going to come into play to meet the higher speeds of emerging desktop applications, then my choice will not be Category 6, 7, or 8; it will be fiber. The industry should start looking at this subject from a customer`s point of view.
This opinion in no way represents that of my employer.
