Patrick McLaughlin
It`s official: Category 6 and Category 7 are coming. The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (iso/iec--Geneva) issued a statement indicating that during its September 15 to 17 meeting in Munich, a working group within the organization proposed two new link and channel performance classes for balanced cabling.
The group--officially titled Working Group 3 of the iso/iec Joint Technical Committee 1/Standards Committee 25--will undertake simultaneous development of two cabling classes and categories. One, which will be known as Class E and Category 6, will be specified to 200 megahertz. The other, to be known as Class F and Category 7, will be specified to 600 MHz.
According to the iso/iec statement, the two documents will specify positive attenuation-to-crosstalk ratio at the maximum frequencies and will be included in the second edition of the international cabling standard iso/iec-11801.
The statement said that when published, these channel specifications will enable manufacturers to develop compliant cabling components. It also said that industry forums and other standards groups will be able to base future developments on the performance specifications of these balanced-cable classes, as well as the established classes. The statement did not estimate when these standards will be finalized.