Future Proof Your Business with CAT 6A Cabling

Industry standards that previously suggested Category 6A cabling only for data centres now recommend it for most LAN installations as well, due to applications demanding higher performance, more bandwidth, faster speeds and low latency.

CAT 6 cabling support Gigabit Ethernet data rates of 1 gigabit per second. They can accommodate 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections over a limited distance. CAT 6 cable contains four pairs of copper wire and uses all the pairs for signalling in order to obtain its high level of performance.

There are multiple perks of using CAT6 cabling over CAT5e cabling systems. In the early years of CAT6, it was a luxury to use because it was nearly 50% more expensive, making it less cost efficient. But, as time has progressed, the cost of CAT6 has flattened tremendously. Some benefits CAT6 has over CAT5e are as follows: higher bandwidth and higher data transfer rates. As a result, CAT6 is now the staple when it comes to new cabling applications. CAT6 can support 1 Gbps network speeds easily. In addition, CAT6 supports the higher data rates of 10 Gbps.

Compared to CAT6, CAT6A has more and tighter twists, with more insulation to reduce crosstalk. In addition, CAT6A is backwards compatible with CAT5e and CAT6 technology. Although the latter is true, speeds are always directly correlated and will perform based on the lowest rated cable or connecter installed in the arrangement.

CAT6A is quickly becoming the most cost efficient option/choice because it is proven to be a reliable system. CAT6A Cabling elements are used in Class EA networks systems.

You can also identify shielded and unshielded cables as F/UTP (shielded) and U/UTP (unshielded) cable. CAT-6A U/UTP depicts that the cable has four unshielded twisted pairs and comes without an outer shielding. And CAT-6A F/UTP depicts that the cable has a shield and consists of 4 unshielded twisted pairs and an outer foil shield.

One of the recent additions to the CAT-6A shielded cabling is a U/FTP cable. This cable configuration has all four pairs individually shielded, rather than an outer foil shield. The overall test results and performance of this cable has been quite impressive.

So if you have a network for your business, chances are, your data is doubling every month or two. By installing CAT6A cables (or even CAT7), you are preventing the need to perform multiple, unnecessary upgrades each time you get faster equipment. There will come a point in time when you will need to upgrade your switches and the new switches will need CAT6A cables. Upgrading now will save you time and money in the future.

When you need to run network cables over longer distances, CAT6A cabling offer you the ability to do that. This is perfect if you are creating a wired network.

So, future-proof your network with CAT 6A Cabling.