CablingInstall's Friday Top 5: Category 8 standard now approved; Physicists eye ultra-thin black phosphorous as fiber-optic catalyst

Here's the top 5 trending stories at CablingInstall.com from the past week:

TIA Category 8 cabling standard approved
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) TR-42 Telecommunications Cabling Systems Engineering Committee has approved the ANSI/TIA-568-C.2-1 specifications for Category 8 cabling systems. The document is now awaiting publication and is likely to be available soon.

Physicists study atomic-layer black phosphorus for potential use in fiber-optic communications
The National Science Foundation has awarded University of Arkansas physicists significant grant funding to study the ultra-thin material black phosphorous for its potential use in fiber-optic communications.

When Category 8 was one step away
The Telecommunications Industry Association’s TR-42 Engineering Committee and its subcommittees met the week of January 25, 2016, and one of the more significant results of the meeting was that the Category 8 standard—long in development within the TR-42.7 subcommittee focused on copper cabling systems—was deemed at that time to be just one step away from approval and publication.

Ohio county finalizes $60M fiber-optic grant application
Officials in Union County continue to develop an application for $60 million to develop a fiber-optic network along the U.S. Route 33 corridor.

Brother’s LabelLink streamlines cable labeling using Fluke Networks’ LinkWare Live
Brother Mobile Solutions recently announced it has formed a relationship with Fluke Networks, through which Brother has licensed the LinkWare Live API to create LabelLink, a mobile app and back-end solution “designed to dramatically streamline the network and cable labeling process,” the companies said.