Do You Know The CAT.8 Cabling?

Do you know the CAT.8 Cabling?  Do you want to know the CAT.8 Cabling? Maybe the following questions and answers can help you!

Q1:What is Category 8 Cabling?

A: Category 8 cabling is a new category of structured cabling products that has been developed to support 25GBASE-T and 40GBASE-T applications developed by the IEEE.

Q2:Who developed the Category 8 standard?

A: The Category 8 standard was developed by the ANSI/TIA-568 standards body, more specifically, the TR42.7 committee. The document that details Category 8 cabling is ANSI/TIA-568-C.2-1, and was published in November 2016 as a standard, therefore Category 8 is no longer in a draft format.

Q3:What is unique about Category 8 cabling as opposed to Category 6A cabling or previous balanced twisted-pair copper cabling categories?

A： Category 8 cabling has a greater throughput capability; it can support the transmission of data up to 40Gbps over balanced twisted-pair copper cabling. The solution is a shielded solution--there is no unshielded variant. Therefore, careful attention must be paid to shield terminations when installing the solution. All previous categories of balanced twisted-pair copper cabling supported a Permanent Link Length of 90m (295’) and a channel of 100m (328’). Category 8 has a maximum Permanent Link Length of 24m (78’) and a maximum Channel length of 30m (100’) when supporting 25Gbps and 40Gbps speeds. 

LAN Cat 8 can support data speeds of 10Gbps and lower at a full 100m (328’) Channel configuration.  When field-testing Category 8 solutions, the installation is tested from 1MHz to 2000MHz, whereas Category 6A balanced twisted-pair copper cabling is the only field-tested from 1MHz to 500MHz.

Q4: What connectors does Category 8 cabling use to perform at these higher frequencies?

A： The ANSI/TIA Category 8 solution utilizes an 8 position modular 8 connector (commonly known as RJ45) and was designed to be backward compatible with the existing 8 position modular connectors that are utilized in structured cabling from Category 5e through to Category 6A. This was a key requirement from the active equipment manufacturers to maintain compatibility with the billions of RJ45 connectors in use around the world. The international standards body is following a similar approach, their Class I links are made up of Category 8.1 components, the connectors being backward compatible with the commonly used 8 positions modular style (RJ45).

Q5： So what else are the international standards bodies doing concerning Category 8?

A： The international standards bodies ISO and IEC have designated two cabling variants to support 25Gbps and 40Gbps; they are Category 8.1 and Category 8.2. As stated earlier, Category 8.1 components are used to construct the Class I links. They are backward compatible with the RJ45 connector interface for categories 6A, 6, and 5e as specified in ISO/IEC 11801 and EN 50173. Category 8.2 components are used to construct Class II links. Category 8.2 components are backward compatible with components used to construct Class F and Class FA links. Category 8.2 connector interfaces ARE NOT BACKWARD COMPATIBLE with the RJ45 jacks of existing cabling.   The international standards bodies ISO and IEC are expected to publish a new version of ISO/IEC 11801 (Edition 3) during 2017.