Shielded-vs.-unshielded tests get people talking

Last month we let you know about a set of tests that compared the ability of unshielded and shielded systems to carry 10GBase-T traffic. The tests were carried out by German test lab GHMT AG and were made public by Tyco Electronics’ AMP Netconnect business unit.

Those of you who have tracked what AMP Netconnect has had to say about shielded cabling for 10GBase-T are not surprised to see these recent test results. They conclude rather clearly that shielded is a better-performing medium than unshielded for this application.

Once word of these results hit, the fur started flying in discussion groups. In particular, a discussion in the Structured Cabling Professionals group within LinkedIn was pretty much a sparring match between cabling-system providers who agree and those who disagree with the conclusions AMP Netconnect drew from the test results. Thrown in there also are comments from a handful of professionals who don’t manufacture, but actually specify, design, and/or install cabling systems. (By the way, if you’re not a member of the Structured Cabling Professionals group on LinkedIn, I recommend you join. This is just one of several worthwhile discussions taking place within that community.)

The gist of the arguments is as follows. One side says the results were independently achieved and speak for themselves. The other side says the tests did not include representative samples of the Category 6A unshielded twisted-pair systems available on the market. Furthermore, a single round of testing may provide some worthwhile information, but much more testing will have to take place before the results can be considered repeatable.

This little blog of ours is where you can weigh in with us if you’d like. Tell us what you think of the legitimacy of these test results. Or, better yet, tell us what your real-life experience has been if you’ve turned on a 10GBase-T system. I bet many of you haven’t. In that case, please share with us what you’re expecting (or dreading, or looking forward to) when the installed cabling systems that were meant to support 10GBase-T, are finally asked to do so.