Today, your network cabling system carries the lifeblood of your organization - INFORMATION.

Data

Cat5 Cat5E Cat6 Cat6A Cat7

Cabling is the veins carrying the lifeblood of your organization

The installation, material, quality of cable and testing procedures are all much more critical in data wiring than in voice. The main reason for this is that networks today are designed to carry large amounts of information at incredible speeds. To accomplish this over unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP), many different criteria must be met.

Who sets the criteria and standards for network cabling?
The three major players are The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE - commonly called I-triple-E ) who work on developing new protocols, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Telecommunications Industry Association / Electronic Industry Alliance (TIA/EIA) who issue the standards and testing procedures.

Suffice it to say that these people have been busy over the past 12 years - as we've seen network speeds increase from 10 million bits of information per second, over Category 3 wire, back in 1991 to 1 billion bits (called Gigabit Ethernet) today. With bandwidth increasing and reliance on the network at an all time high, getting information to where it needs to be is becoming more challenging than ever. Ask any IT Manager what their most common network problem is and you will most likely hear them rant about cabling issues. In fact, cabling problems, which account for over 50% of network problems, cost companies millions annually. The most common problems are:

• Low attenuation
• Poor NEXT (near-end crosstalk)
• Poor ACR (attenuation-to-crosstalk ratio)
• Poor delay skew (data arrives at different times)
• Impedance
• Poor return loss (also known as "echo")
• Poor ELFEXT (equal-level far-end crosstalk) numbers for cable, connecting hardware and channel
• Splices in cable

Cat5, Cat 5E
Category 5 cable, commonly known as Cat 5, is an unshielded twisted pair cable type designed for high signal integrity. Category 5 has been superseded by the Category 5e specification. This type of cable is often used in structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet, although it is also used to carry many other signals such as basic voice services, token ring, and ATM (at up to 155 Mbit/s, over short distances).

The original specification for category 5 cable was defined in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, with clarification in TSB-95. These documents specified performance characteristics and test requirements for frequencies of up to 100 MHz.

Category 5
Category 5 cable includes four twisted pairs in a single cable jacket. It is most commonly used for 100 Mbps networks, such as 100BASE-TX Ethernet, although IEEE 802.3ab defines standards for 1000BASE-T - Gigabit Ethernet over category 5 cable. Cat 5 cable typically has three twists per inch of each twisted pair of 24 gauge copper wires within the cable.

The twisting of the cable reduces electrical radio frequency interference which causes crosstalk. Also, the wires are insulated with a plastic (FEP) that has low optical dispersion, that is, the dielectric constant of the plastic does not depend greatly on frequency. Special attention also has to be paid to minimizing impedance mismatches at connection points.

Category 5e
Cat 5e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk. It was formally defined in 2001 in the TIA/EIA-568-B standard, which no longer recognizes the original Cat 5 specification. Although 1000BASE-T was designed for use with Cat 5 cable, the tighter specifications associated with Cat 5e cable and connectors make it an excellent choice for use with 1000BASE-T. Despite the stricter performance specifications, Cat 5e cable does not enable longer cable distances for Ethernet networks: horizontal cables are still limited to a maximum of 90m (295ft) in length. Cat 5e cable performance characteristics and test methods are defined in TIA/EIA-568-B.2-2001.

Cat 6 & Cat 6a
Category 6, (ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1) is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards. Cat-6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable standard is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet) connections. It provides performance of up to 250 MHz.

The cable contains four twisted copper wire pairs, just like earlier copper cable standards. Although Cat-6 is sometimes made with 23 gauge wire, this is not a requirement; the ANSI/TIA-568-B.2-1 specification states the cable may be made with 22 to 24 gauge wire, so long as the cable meets the specified testing standards. When used as a patch cable, Cat-6 is normally terminated in RJ-45 electrical connectors, although some Cat-6 cable may be difficult to attach RJ-45 connectors without a special modular piece and is technically not standards compliant. If components of the various cable standards are intermixed, the performance of the signal path will be limited to that of the lowest category. As with all cables defined by TIA/EIA-568-B, the maximum allowed length of a Cat-6 horizontal cable is 90 meters (295 feet). A complete channel (horizontal cable plus cords on either end) is allowed to be up to 100 meters in length, depending upon the ratio of cord length:horizontal cable length.

Category 6a
The TIA is working to complete a new specification that will define enhanced performance standards for unshielded twisted pair cable systems. Draft specification ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10 specifies cable systems, frequently referred to as "Category 6a", that operate at frequencies up to 500 MHz and will provide up to 10 Gbit/s throughput.

Cat 7 – Commonly used in Europe
Category 7 cable (CAT7), (ISO/IEC 11801:2002 category 7/class F), is a cable standard for Ethernet and other interconnect technologies that can be made to be backwards compatible with traditional CAT5 and CAT6 Ethernet cable. CAT7 features even more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise than CAT6. To achieve this, shielding has been added for individual wire pairs and the cable as a whole.

The CAT7 cable standard has been created to allow 10 gigabit Ethernet over 100 meters of copper cabling. The cable contains four twisted copper wire pairs, just like the earlier standards. CAT7 can be terminated either with RJ-45 compatible GG45 electrical connectors which incorporate the RJ-45 standard or with TERA connectors. When combined with GG-45 or TERA connectors, CAT7 cable is rated for transmission frequencies of up to 600 MHz.

Site Survey Free Accurate Estimates! Free Site Surveys are always given to qualified individuals to provide the customer with professional technical recommendations with no sales pressure. An accurate assessment of your requirements from day one is the only way to gather crucial information for you cabling installation. No two installations are ever the same, even in the same building. We do things right the first time. Various factors must come into consideration for any installation such as building structures, environmental concerns, building codes, building and town licensing, working along side other trades and so forth. Every piece of data gathered during this site survey will be incorporated into the entire scope of work. Often change orders after-the-fact can make a seemingly inexpensive installation quite costly in the long run. Mason Technologies Inc will never change an agreed upon pricing structure unless either the scope of work changes or an act of god. RCDD Design Assessment A Mason Technologies Inc. RCDD (Registered Communications Distribution Designer) will assist you one-on-one in assessing the needs of your simple to complex needs. We will address the immediate needs of your installation, as well as, brief you on the considerations for future growth and technology changes presenting future scenarios you may not have thought of. All specifications of your installation shall be met, complete with precise building and implementation of racks, cable trays, conduit, and patch panels, phone blocks and other related items. During our cabling runs we pay close attention to the important details that could affect the performance of your cables. Installation Workmanship Team Mason Master Technicians are the “best-of-breed” when it comes to industry hiring standards. You can be assured of always having clean-cut professional Master Technicians to work with you every step of the way. We work on YOUR schedule, adhering to YOUR timelines. Mason Technologies Inc ensures that the design and workmanship comply and often exceed the BICSI standard to provide you worry-free integration and future consideration for applications. Safety Mason Technologies Inc. is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for our coworkers. Our business is always conducted in such a way that ensures the health and well being of our employees, contractors and any person affected by our activities. We believe all accidents are preventable, and we continuously develop an uncompromisingly safe and healthy work environment for all employees Certification Upon completion of any work performed, Mason Technologies Inc undergoes a series of industry standard testing and certifications on your cabling which guarantee your installation is top-notch to ensure your new or existing infrastructure meet and exceed the industry standards. Customers are also provided with documentation in both hard and soft copy formats with any recommendations for improvement of the infrastructure. Warranty Our assurance protection policy provides limited lifetime warranty for the passive components of your structured cabling system and any related changes or additions that you, the user, purchase, as long as they are designed/approved, installed, verified, and maintained by Mason Technologies Inc, exclusively. Assurance protection means that your System will work now and in the future. Mason Technologies Inc warrants that the cabling system will continue to operate the application or applications it was designed to support.