According to recent lab testing, all three of The Siemon Company's (www.siemon.com) 10G ip copper cabling solutions have passed Anixter's 10GBase-T requirements. Comprising the 10G 6A UTP, 10G 6A F/UTP, and TERA products, the 10G ip family of systems complies with all Anixter 10GBase-T performance parameters, including alien crosstalk limits, Siemon reports. The TERA product line is a fully shielded, Category 7/Class F system.
The IEEE 802.3an standard outlining 10 Gigabit transmission over copper cabling is scheduled to be published in July 2006; many anticipate that 10GBase-T equipment will reach greater affordability and settle at about 1/3 the current cost of a 10-Gig fiber port by 2008.
Siemon says that a preview of these 10-Gbit/sec projections already exists. There is a growing list of enterprises, including many Global 500 companies, that see the benefits of installing 10-Gigabit-ready cabling today, the company states. Although the immediate performance boost of a 10-Gbit/sec cabling plant plays a role in their decisions, the primary driver is assuring longevity of the cabling plant while minimizing total cost of ownership. It is becoming more accepted and understood, Siemon says, that the 10-Gbit/sec networking trend is real and must be incorporated into any long-term network planning.
Other industry specifications, including the TIA 942 Data Center Standard, support this trend by recommending infrastructure designs capable of accommodating growth without the need to revisit cabling capability. As technology continues to advance and ratified standards drive greater adoption of 10-Gbit/sec applications, enterprises will need to explore 10-Gbit/sec copper options and understand the relative strengths of each available design. Augmented Category 6 UTP and F/UTP, as well as Category 7/Class F S/FTP are the recognized copper media capable of supporting 10GBase-T. Which of these options is the best choice will depend on customer-specific requirements and total cost of ownership preference.
"No one type of 10GBase-T copper cabling solution suits all customers in all markets," explains Rob Buchanan, Siemon's global business development manager. "From the start, Siemon was committed to developing a full suite of solutions so that all of our customers, in all markets around the world, get exactly what they need in a 10-Gbit/sec copper cabling solution."
