South Africa and Cat6a 10 Gbase-T Data Cabling Over the years Cape Town-based TNW Data has become an established and reliable supplier and distributor of Networking Products, Cabling & Accessories, Networking Products and Electrical Products. Schalk Bothma, the firm’s managing director, discusses how to approach Cat6a 10 GbE (10 GBase-T) Data Cabling in South Africa. South Africa is not unique in that it is a predominately “UTP” country – as most of our data cabling installations are “Unshielded Twisted Pair” installations and so is most of the United States. Integrators/Installers are trained for UTP installation and most sites do not have adequate bonding and grounding infrastructure for grounded FTP or STP installations. In South Africa we use a lot of PVC skirting and most buildings do not have a dedicated earthing system for the data cabling infrastructure. So what is the problem? “UTP” has been working very well for us and most of the United States of America for a very long time... Well, shielded cabling is almost mandatory to fully comply with the IEEE 802.3an cabling standards and to truly obtain the necessary performance to run 10 GBase-T over copper twisted pair cabling. As we know 10 Gbase-T applications are a reality and the hardware to run these applications are already available. Data cabling infrastructure is a long term investment and needs to be able to service equipment for at least 10-15 years into the future. The cost to replace the horizontal/sold cable within a structured cabling installation is extremely high and needs to be kept in mind when choosing the appropriate solution at installation. Again – so what is the problem, we will just install fully shielded systems when we remove the current Cat5e and Cat6 network cabling systems? Well, specific to South Africa we have the following challenges to deal with when looking at installing “Grounded” Shielded Cabling Systems: 1. Most of our current infrastructure is only for “UTP” installations and does not have the necessary grounding and bonding equipment in place. To get the correct grounding and bonding equipment in place is extremely expensive and time consuming making it sometimes almost impossible. And if shortcuts are used to do grounding and bonding – it will be more harmful and problematic than not using it at all. 2. Most of our current installers/integrators are not trained to do fully shielded installations. 3. The cost of the fully shielded equipment and the actual cost of installing fully shielded systems are very expensive when compared to “UTP” systems. OK – We have Cat6a “UTP” systems available locally and internationally, so why not just install them? Also with Cat6a “UTP” systems there are inherent problems with the technology, examples below: 1. Cat6a “UTP” horizontal/solid installation cable is extremely thick, due to the need for separation of the pairs in the cable and the cables themselves to combat Alien Crosstalk. This means that current pathways and cable trays will most probably not be able to accommodate the “UTP” Cat6a cable and will certainly not be able to accommodate growth. This means upgrading the path ways, which in most cases will cause long delays, down time and huge infrastructure costs, and might even not be possible at all. 2. Performance – Cat6a “UTP” solutions are generally on the very edge of the IEEE 802.3an standard for 10 Gbase-T applications and is very susceptible to bad installations. 3. With the Cat6a “UTP” system being so close to the edge and being susceptible to problems, installations tend to take longer with more problems over the life time of the installation making the cost of maintenance much higher. 4. According the standard for Cat6a “UTP” also needs to be tested for ANEXT. This is a complex and time-consuming process where all possible wire-pair combinations need to be tested for ANEXT and far-end ANEXT. It can take up to 50 minutes to test one link in a bundle of 24 CAT 6A UTP cables.
So now what, should we install Cat6a UTP or Grounded shielded systems? According to many experts in the world, the answer to all the problems above is to install a Cat6a “Ungrounded” U/FTP System using a floating shield around each pair to resolve the alien crosstalk problem in both the horizontal/solid installation cable and work area and path cords. The only difference being that the shield is not grounded or connected anywhere in the installation, and both the keystone and RJ45 connectors in the solution are “UTP” based with no metal parts to connect to the shield. So the horizontal/solid installation cable and cords are “individually shielded” the actual physical installation is done as a “UTP” system. In tests concluded by two well-known international vendors and other experts in the field, the following was proven through extensive and intricate testing: 1. The Ungrounded shield of a U/FTP cable DOES NOT act like an antenna, in actual fact “UTP” cable acts more like an antenna than an ungrounded shielded cable does. The antenna affect is a myth in the industry. 2. Even if the shield is not earthed, it still protects the cable from alien cross talk, in the tests it was clear that even when the shield was not earthed, the shield stopped interference on the pairs inside the cable, and makes the cable more than fully compliant to the IEEE 802.3an cabling standards for 10 Gbase-T. 3. The shield does not cause heat build-up in the cable, in actual fact the cable with the shield tends to be cooler than “UTP” cable during tests. The U/FTP cable will then in actual fact work the same if not better in a POE environment. These tests concludes that an ungrounded shield (U/FTP) on a shielded cable will not create problems in the system and will eliminate alien cross talk to enable the cable to outperform the standards required by the IEEE 802.3 for 10 Gbase-T applications. What do these tests mean to us when it comes to choosing a Cat6a solution? It resolves all problems associated with “UTP” Cat6a solutions AND grounded fully shielded Cat6a solutions for South Africa. When choosing an “Ungrounded” Cat6a solution the advantages are: 1. No need for grounding and bonding, replace current “UTP” Cat5e or Cat6 systems as is with no need for additional costs. 2. Install like a UTP system, no special training or resources needed to install “ungrounded” Cat6a system. 3. Quicker and easier to install – cost saving on actual installation time and slightly cheaper than fully shielded system. 4. Cat6a U/FTP cable is significantly thinner than Cat6a U/UTP cable, making current pathways and cable trays adequate and installation much easier. 5. Cat6a U/FTP cable outperforms Cat6a U/UTP cable on all parameters and makes for much better headroom on a Cat6a installation, the cable is also more robust and less problems occurs during installation. 6. With larger headroom available after installation when compared to U/UTP, there will be lower maintenance costs during the lifetime of the installation. When taking all of these facts and information into consideration and based on the situation in South Africa, it makes a lot of sense to consider an “Ungrounded” U/FTP Cat6a solution for your next installation. Contact Schalk Bothma Managing director schalk@tnwcape.co.za www.tnwdata.co.za