R&M technical chief: 10GBase-T becoming 'standard' for MEA data centers

At IT Business Net via DMN Newswire, Shibu Vahid, head of technical operations for the Swiss structured cabling provider R&M's Middle East, Turkey & Africa (MEA) unit, turns in an article highlighting how "copper cabling [is] still a viable, cost-effective solution for 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) networks."

"Across the Middle East, organizations are witnessing a staggering growth of video, network-based business, network-attached devices, cloud computing and virtualization in the data center," writes Vahid. "All of this has brought about the need for higher performance networks, and today 10 GbE is rapidly becoming a standard across the region."

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"The 10GBase-T specification by IEEE, which is the standard for 10 GbE transmission over copper twisted pair, permits the use of both unshielded twisted pair (UTP) and shielded twisted pair (STP) copper cabling systems," notes Vahid. He further contends, "While organizations that place signal quality and system robustness at the top of their priority lists may be quick to eliminate UTP, new advances in unshielded cabling are once again making it a feasible choice."

According to market researcher IDC, in Q3 2013, Ethernet switch sales for the MEA region increased by almost 23 percent year-on-year -- much above the global average of just 6.5 percent.

Full Story:Copper Cabling Still a Viable, Cost-Effective Solution for 10 GbE Networks (itbusinessnet.com)