Is a TIA Cat 7 standard on the horizon?

A source with connections to the Telecommunications Industry Association's TR-42 Engineering Committee says that sometime next year, the group may take up an issue it has long tabled - the development of specifications for Category 7 twisted-pair cabling systems.

Category 7 and Category 7A specs have been part of the ISO 11801 cabling specs, which are recognized as an international cabling standard whereas the TIA-568 series of standards serves North America. Apparently an effort by some members of TIA TR-42 would - and maybe will - have that organization adopt the ISO Cat 7 specs just about verbatim.

There are a few practical reasons why supporters of the effort would want the TIA to take on a Cat 7 standard. Several cabling manufacturers have been vocal in their support of using shielded twisted-pair cabling systems for high-speed applications such as 10GBase-T. Some of those same companies have begun to drum up interest in a "Base-T" version of 40-Gbit Ethernet. A Cat 7 spec would help that cause.

But also, a TIA Cat 7 spec will indicate to North American users of structured cabling systems that Category 6A is not the end of the line for twisted-pair cabling capabilities. That may increase users' willingness to purchase Cat 6A, knowing that twisted-pair cabling has a future beyond it. When the Cat 6A spec was finalized, cable suppliers saw a boost in their Cat 6 sales. The aforementioned suggestion that users were more willing to buy Cat 6 knowing their migration path could eventually continue to Cat 6A is one point to consider. Another is that with Cat 6A ratified and therefore viewed as a real standard by many, there likely was some hesitancy on the part of consultants to specify Cat 5e cable, which was then two generations behind the best-available twisted-pair technology. Likewise, if a Cat 7 spec comes to fruition, then Cat 6 cabling will be two steps rather than one step behind the best-available twisted-pair technology. With that in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a decent level of support for Cat 7 within TIA sometime soon.

In terms of how or when such a proposal is made to TIA TR-42, I have to confess I could use a refresher on the procedural maneuvers. But from what I understand, if a proposal is made before there's adequate support and it gets squashed, supporters will have blown their one shot at the project. So right now, much like we hear about in Congress with bills under debate, there's some campaigning going on within TIA TR-42 to build support for a set of Category 7 specifications.

When anything official happens we'll be sure to let you know. And hopefully, we'll also be able to keep you up to date on what's unofficially happening, like we have here.

Shielded-cabling discussion continues

The post a few weeks ago about tests comparing shielded and unshielded twisted-pair cabling systems' ability to handle 10-Gigabit Ethernet generated a bit of feedback in the way of emails and phone calls. One commenter pointed out that an article we published two-and-a-half years ago predicted that such tests would produce the results they did.

More recently, a quick trip around the internets revealed not one but two videos showing how quickly a shielded cable can be terminated - in each case less than a minute. Take a look at Tyco's video demonstration and/or Siemon's.

Meanwhile, my editorial in the December issue of Cabling Installation and Maintenance touched on the notion of running more than 10-Gbits/second on shielded twisted-pair cabling. First, some make-good housekeeping. In that editorial I neglected to mention that the in-the-works 40/100-Gbit Ethernet specifications within IEEE do indeed include a twinax copper-based solution. In one of the many instances in which my brain took a vacation while my body was working, I stated that the 40/100-G specs are fiber-only. D'Oh!

Moving ahead, if I possibly can, I promised more detail on the possibility of 40/100-G over shielded twisted-pair. This article from the January issue of our magazine provides some of that detail. As the article indicates, it looks like it could be a long road for proponents of an IEEE-produced 40/100-Gig-over-shielded-twisted-pair specification. From the looks of it, ensuring that a shielded cabling system can handle such throughput rates might be the lowest hurdle to overcome.

We'll continue to track what goes on with the possibility, and keep you informed.