General Cable (NYSE: BGC) announced that its GenSPEED brand data communications cables are the first in the industry to achieve the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) LP listing for efficient operation in high-power Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications.
The company notes that, "over the past decade, PoE has become a viable powering option for a wide range of applications. Anticipating future standards, device manufacturers are pushing the envelope and designing more sophisticated equipment that demands increased power."
General Cable adds that UL's new LP listing, which stands for Limited Power, provides a simple way to ensure installations are future-proofed against ever-increasing PoE standards, and not susceptible to performance issues caused by heat generation. The listing accounts for large bundle sizes, high ambient temperatures and other issues related to environmental effects such as enclosed spaces or conduits.
The new LP listing is denoted as a suffix and is followed by the ampacity rating of the particular cable. According to General Cable, the following products from the company are the industry’s first cables to be certified LP along with their respective rating and the wattage they support when using 50 volts over four pairs:
• GenSPEED 6 Category 6 (Plenum) – UL Listed CMP-LP (0.5A) supporting up to 100 watts
• GenSPEED Brand’s EfficienC Max Category 6 (Plenum) – UL Listed CMP-LP (0.6A) supporting up to 120 watts
• GenSPEED 10 MTP Thin-Profile Category 6A featuring EfficienC Max technology (Plenum) – UL Listed CMP-LP (0.7A) supporting up to 140 watts
General Cable manufactures a wide range of the high performance GenSPEED brand copper data communications cables and NextGen brand fiber-optic cables.
“With PoE technology becoming more established, General Cable has led the industry in providing cables that support the advancements,” concludes Scott Brown, director of technical services, communications products, General Cable. “When the new listing became available, it only made sense to work with UL Wire & Cable to have the first UL CMP-LP listing, which will make choosing cables to ensure the future performance of a system easier.”