Avaya: TIA/EIA approves Category 6 specification

Have you ever wondered what the `e` of Category 5e represents? Whatever the definition, its introduction signalled one important fact in the world of cabling standards - the end of Category 5 cabling as we have known it for many years.

With the inevitable drive to gigabit networking, transmission technology has pushed Category 5 cabling to its limit. The result to the user is an array of different Category 5 and 5e standards, leaving them with the task of selecting the right one in the hope it will meet their needs. The cabling market has been crying out for a new standard to deliver performance margin for today and a new minimum for tomorrow. It has now arrived in the form of the TIA/EIA 568B.2-1 Category 6 specification.

Eagerly awaited by IT managers worldwide, the ratification of Category 6 will accelerate the migration to highly-reliable gigabit capable infrastructures just as the move to Gigabit Ethernet starts to take hold. The new standard provides for twice the bandwidth offered by Category 5e cabling and opens the way for high quality combined video, voice and data communication to the desktop.

Using the new standard, network managers can now build gigabit network infrastructure confident that they are investing in technology that has sufficient performance and conforms to specifications accepted worldwide.

In the early 1990s it became apparent that in order to share information between employees and network them together, a standard format for the cabling plant or infrastructure would be beneficial. Category 6 is the latest improvement in local area network infrastructure design. It follows its predecessors Category 3, 4, 5, 5e, each providing greater information carrying capacity for end-users.

In 1991, the TIA/EIA published the first "Commercial Building Cabling Standard" known as TIA/EIA-568. It established a standards-based, open systems approach to LAN network design and building cabling. This was instrumental in enabling customers to choose solutions from multiple vendors or suppliers with certainty that the products were designed to industry standards. The TIA/EIA standards committee is a consortium of industry players working together to improve the networked computing industry through standardisation and quality improvement.

The benefits to customers were competitive options and at least minimum performance specifications. Utilizing this globally recognized cabling standard, electronics vendors designed switches, in harmony with the cabling categories, to send more and faster traffic over LAN networks. As a result, today`s communications networks are the lifeblood of every business. Employee productivity, ensuring customer satisfaction and company profitability, is dependent upon it.

With the announcement of the completed Category 6 standard, end-user customers have complete assurance that a much improved cabling plant standard has now been approved after years in review. While cabling categories only provide the minimum requirements for LAN network design, Category 6 raises that minimum standard at a critical time for the enterprise market. Networks are deluged by heavier traffic including e-mails with ever-larger attachments and more complex desktop applications. In addition, multimedia applications like video streaming will all but cripple slower last generation networks.

Today`s companies need to plan for tomorrow and they need more bandwidth - the capacity to send lots of information quickly. They also need greater throughput - the capability to send all the information the first time. Category 6 gives customers the confidence they are getting more bandwidth and better throughput than has ever been provided to the industry to date. When the company network has to be up and running 24/7 there is great comfort in knowing that a better infrastructure based on Category 6 has been deployed.

Gartner, in the 3 March 2000 Research Note - "Category 5e or Category 6 Cabling - Which to Bet On?" authored by L Orans, predicted that by 2003, 90% of all new enterprise copper cabling installations will be Category 6 (with a confidence level of 80%). Lawrence Orans, a senior analyst with Gartner, reconfirmed this assessment in June 2002. According to Gartner, the only thing holding up the acceptance of Category 6 in the market was the lack of a published Category 6 standard. The ratification of TIA/EIA 568B.2-1 provides the level of confidence many organisations were waiting for in order to move up from Category 5e specifications.

The ratification of the Category 6 specification could not come at a better time. Enterprise networks are poised for the shift to gigabit speeds to the desk as the shipping volume of Gigabit Ethernet network interface cards is growing rapidly, and prices are being dramatically reduced. And as gigabit to the desk reaches pricing levels that will trigger widespread market acceptance, end-users will reap benefits in productivity with dramatic speed improvements for their networking needs, from the simple but vital task of backing up a hard disk to the transfer of large digital files, but only if their infrastructure is up to the task.

The ratification of Category 6 delivers improved cabling specifications to handle the impending move to gigabit communications. Additionally, it provides the bandwidth to handle emerging applications that may push the speed limit beyond 1Gbps. Now is the right time to re-evaluate your network`s long-term capabilities and choose Category 6 as the minimum corporate infrastructure standard.

SYSTIMAX Labs have been instrumental in contributing their technical expertise to finalise this latest TIA/EIA cabling Category. For over a decade the SYSTIMAX R&D team has developed many of the innovative products and solutions that were the precursors to the TIA/EIA LAN cabling standards.

Early adopters have been implementing GigaSPEED Solutions compliant with the Category 6 channel specifications since its introduction in 1997. Ratification of the standard, including channel specifications in line with the GigaSPEED Solution guarantee confirms this vision. Early adopters will reap the benefits since GigaSPEED installations are ready for gigabit and beyond, guaranteed.

With the newly approved standard providing the minimum requirements for a compliant Category 6 infrastructure, the SYSTIMAX Labs` proven track record of innovation has led to the development of the SYSTIMAX GigaSPEED XL Solution. Launched in April 2002, this new solution far exceeds the TIA/EIA Category 6 standard, providing greater bandwidth, enhanced throughput and headroom. With performance that improves on Category 6 by up to 400%, the GigaSPEED XL Solution can support up to six connection points over even the shortest lengths of installed cabling with performance margin to spare.

The unmatched performance of the GigaSPEED XL Solution is the result of what we call the SYSTIMAX Labs Effect. Through the use of best in class proprietary design tools like Modal Decomposition Modelling and others, our engineers and scientists utilise a top down systems approach to designing LAN cabling channels. Every cabling component is optimised for individual as well as system level peak performance. This sophisticated and unique channel design approach has resulted in 41 granted patents and the most advanced solution in the industry: the GigaSPEED XL Solution.

Excellence in component and channel design extends to our manufacturing processes as well. Every GigaSPEED XL product is produced for the same consistent and repeatable performance regardless of which global facility produces it. SYSTIMAX SCS quality control methods are so stringent that ISO-9001 specifications were based on standards we`d developed years before. This allows us to provide every customer on every continent with the same performance and reliability in every location.

The GigaSPEED XL Solution continues the heritage of cabling innovations that comprise the SYSTIMAX SCS portfolio of copper and fibre solutions. SYSTIMAX SCS is the most widely used cabling system in the world, according to Frost & Sullivan and other independent researchers. Our cabling is being installed at a rate of more than 1 000 miles per day (1 600km), in more than 90 countries, by a worldwide network of over 2 800 highly skilled business partners. Satisfied customers have shown their confidence in our proven support and in our legacy of innovative products and solutions.

Virtually all UTP performance standards have been based on our scientific research. Categories 3, 4, 5 and 6 so far. SYSTIMAX SCS scientists and engineers are active participants in every major standards-setting organisation in the world, and remain at the forefront of new standards development. Our technological leadership has led to important improvements in cabling standards and benefited the industry through standards based network architecture. While cabling standards have improved over the years, they are just minimum requirements. Superior quality coupled with performance margin and headroom are the sure edge companies should have to successfully compete and succeed in an unsure future.

Luc Adriaenssens, Director of SYSTIMAX Labs, comments: "SYSTIMAX SCS led the market towards Category 6 with the introduction of the SYSTIMAX GigaSPEED Solution in 1997. While others were busy trying to get to this performance level, we advanced our technology beyond Category 6, once again setting a performance and reliability benchmark unmatched in the industry with the SYSTIMAX GigaSPEED XL Solution."

To learn more about this exciting announcement, please feel free to join us at our upcoming SYSTIMAX Structured Connectivity Solutions Conference 2002. Please click on www.avaya.com/conference/johannesburg to view all the details.