Augmented Cat 6 cabling passes 10Gbit/s test

The NetClear GTX Augmented Category 6 UTP cabling solution has successfully passed rigorous 10GBase-T testing at Solarflare in Irvine, California.

The NetClear GTX Augmented Category 6 UTP cabling solution successfully passed rigorous 10GBase-T testing at Solarflare in Irvine, California.

The test configurations included 25 and 100m four-connector channels assembled in "worst case" six-around-one bundles.

No errors were detected for the duration of the testing and a total of 36Tbit was successfully transmitted for each configuration.

Additional successful tests were performed on the 25m channels applying power back-off (PBO) to the victim cable but not to the disturbers.

This simulated a scenario more challenging than the "worst-case" specified in the TIA-568-B.2-10 draft standard.

The tests were conducted using Solarflare's 10Xpress 10GBase-T transceivers transmitting over seven tightly bundled 25 and 100m, four-connector NetClear GTX Augmented Category 6 UTP channels in a worst-case configuration (as specified in the TIA 568 B.2: Addendum 10 for Category 6A and ISO/IEC11801: 2002 Amendment 1 for Class EA draft standards).

The 10Gbit/s Ethernet signal on the victim channel was looped back at the far end transceiver while 10GBase-T traffic was transmitted on the six "disturber" cables simultaneously.

"In all test configurations no errors were detected over the full test period", states Jose Castro, Senior Project Engineer for the Data Communications Competence Centre, Nexans.

"In addition to measuring the error rate, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was measured with an average of 27.6dB being reported for the 100m channels, which exceeds the standards requirements", he further notes.

The IEEE802.3an 10GBase-T Standard requires that all 10G copper PHYs reach 100m.

"Solarflare was the first company to demonstrate and sample to customers a 10GBase-T PHY reaching 100m over an IEEE802.3an standards-compliant Category 6A link".

"Meeting the challenge of producing a 100m reach 10GBase-T product has been a priority for Solarflare since its founding", said Bruce Tolley, Vice President of Marketing at Solarflare.

"The flawless operation of the Solarflare 10Xpress PHY over the NetClear GTX cabling solution at a full 100m is a dramatic demonstration of the robustness of both solutions", he added.

The NetClear GTX cabling solution components which were tested include the LANmark-10G UTP (Category 6A) cable from Berk-Tek, and the Clarity 10G patch panel, patch cords and TracJack workstation outlets from Ortronics/Legrand.

As cabling industry leaders, Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand were the first to guarantee two complete copper channel solutions for compliance to the 10GBase-T channel specifications identified by the IEEE.

The NetClear 10G copper solutions include the NetClear GTS (FTP), introduced in January 2005, and NetClear GTX (UTP), introduced in May 2005.

Both systems have guaranteed full 100m 10GBase-T support since their launch.

"A growing number of NetClear 10G copper cabling systems have already been installed to meet the current and future needs of some of the most demanding customer applications in the world".

"This successful 10GBase-T demonstration with Solarflare confirms that the co-engineering expertise between Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand assures that our customers' networks will perform exceptionally", stated Gregg Lafontaine, Senior Product Manager, Copper for Ortronics/Legrand.

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