Quabbin Wire & Cable Co. Inc. is introducing an enhanced patch cord assembler program.

This new DataMax 6E Assembler Partner Program instructs cable assemblers how to manufacture and fully test patch cords to comply with the TIA's Category 6 patch cord test procedure (TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1, Annex J). The program will augment and gradually replace Quabbin's existing assembler program that focused on producing patch cords that measurably improved the return loss performance of legacy Category 5 and 5e channels. A "Cat Logo" will be used to identify both the assemblers and cordage.

The new program is a result of market need and a Quabbin study that indicated that most open-market cords labeled Category 5e or Category 6 do not meet the TIA's published requirements. The test data showed that 69.8% of Category 5e cords and 83% of Category 6 cords fail to meet the TIA's published requirements.

DataMax 6E assembler partners will be trained to produce Category 6 patch cords that are 100% tested to the full requirements of TIA/EIA-568-B. These cords not only provide interoperability with many different OEM's Category 6 channels, but also offer backward compatibility with legacy Cat 3, 4, 5, and 5e networks.

Assembler partners in this program will use Fluke Network's (www.flukenetworks.com) newest patch cord test adapter and its DSP 4000 Series Cable Analyzer to perform 100% cord testing to the full requirements of Category 6, including propagation delay, length, delay skew, wire map, NEXT, and return loss. Every cord will be backed by actual testing to assure the buyer or end user that they are getting the performance they paid for and expect.

These new cords are constructed using Quabbin's DataMax 6E stranded bulk cable, a true Category 6 plug with a wire management load-bar, and tightly controlled assembly techniques. The result is a cord designed to have optimized attenuation, crosstalk and impedance; creating a tuned construction that closely matches the characteristics of today's best performing Category 6 horizontal cables. This performance is achieved without using fused pairs, over-sized copper, a spline or other type of pair separator; resulting in a smaller diameter cable with maximum flexibility.

Quabbin Wire & Cable is located in Ware, MA. For more information visit www.quabbin.com.