August 16, 2007 -- Ortronics/Legrand and Berk-Tek, a Nexans company, announced that their NetClear GTX 10G UTP cabling system can be installed alongside existing NetClear structured cabling systems within the same pathway without degradation of the performance of either system.
According to a press release, tests were performed at the Nexans Data Communications Competence Center, which placed Berk-Tek's LANmark-10G Augmented Category 6 in the same raceway as LANmark-1000 and LANmark-2000 Category 6 cables. Both were unaffected with the LANmark-10G cable continuing to meet all the requirements of the draft TIA 568B.2-10 Augmented Category 6 specifications.
Tests at the Nexans DCCC included the worst case 6-around-1 configuration where a NetClear GTX channel, comprised of LANmark-10G and Ortronics Clarity 10G connectors, was inserted into the center of a bundle that included 7 NetClear GT2 channels around the outside. NetClear GT2 channels consist of Berk-Tek's LANmark-1000 Category 6 cable and Ortronics Clarity 6 connectivity. The NetClear GTX 4-connector channels passed the Augmented Category 6 channel specifications for both internal parameters, as well as all alien crosstalk parameters.
"The industry leading performance of the LANmark-10G cable combined with the co-engineered Clarity 10G termination products from Ortronics, allows the NetClear GTX channels to be intermixed with channels of lower category performance, without interference," comments Jim Frey, copper products manager for Berk-Tek. "No other 10G UTP cabling system available today can offer this kind of flexibility and performance."
"Another unique feature of the NetClear GTX 10-Gbit/sec system is that the Clarity patch cords are stranded and available in lengths down to 3 feet, which is less than the minimum 7 foot lengths offered by other cabling manufacturers," adds Gregg LaFontaine, senior copper products manager for Ortronics/Legrand. "The design of these patch cords also allows these cords to be adjacent to other category patch cords at the workstation without impacting their 10G performance. This reduces cost and eliminates the need to manage excessive lengths of cordage in the TR or data center, while providing better 10-Gbit/sec system performance."
Ortronics/Legrand and Berk-Tek credit themselves with having been "instrumental in providing their combined engineering expertise" to the IEEE P802.3an to define the cabling system requirements for 10 Gigabit Ethernet over twisted pair cable media. As a result, say the companies, both the NetClear GTS (FTP) system, introduced in January 2005, and the NetClear GTX (UTP) system, introduced in May 2005, were among the first to offer two complete channel solutions with guaranteed compliance to all current and future 10G channel specifications identified by the IEEE and TIA committees.