May 7, 2007 -- Copper and fiber-optic cabling manufacturer Berk-Tek, a Nexans company, has introduced a redesigned Category 6 UTP cable. Dubbed LANmark-6, the cable's design eliminates the spline, making it lighter, smaller and easier to install, according to the company.
Berk-Tek says that significant advances in twisting and cabling technology at the company's manufacturing facility have resulted in the cable's reduced diameter of 0.195" -- close to the diameter of a Category 5e cable (typically 0.180"). The LANmark-6 cable meets the industry standard requirements for a Category 6 cable, but eliminates the center spline found in most modern designs.
"We developed this cable to vie for installations which currently specify Category 5e," says James A. Frey, copper products manager for Berk-Tek. "With its similar diameter and construction to a Category 5e, this cable is as easy to install, yet outperforms Category 5e by providing more headroom and an increased bandwidth from 100 to 250 MHz."
Berk-Tek notes that the new cable does not replace the company's LANmark-1000 or LANmark-2000, which are higher performing Category 6 cables that both contain a spline.
"Both the LANmark-1000 enhanced Category 6 and LANmark-2000 premium Category 6 cables provide capabilities that exceed industry standard minimum electrical requirements," explains Todd Harpel, director of marketing for Berk-Tek. "The longitudal spline increases the separation of pairs to maintain the cable geometry needed for increased crosstalk performance for installation environments and applications where additional headroom is an advantage."