INTELLIGENT CABLING
R&M cabling system delivers high
standard in copper cabling
arking a significant advancement
for the cabling industry, R&M,
the globally active developer and
provider of cabling systems for high-quality
network infrastructures, has launched its
universal Cat. 8.1 cabling system.
The company’s new Cat. 8.1 connection
module is based on the design of its Cat.
6A module – a top product which has won
the iF Award. This solution for data centres
and office LANs supports up to 40 Gigabit/s
Ethernet (GbE) – the fastest data transmission
rate that local networks with structured
copper cabling can currently achieve.
“Cat. 8.1 is an excellent, future-proof
solution for current and upcoming
generations of active equipment, with 10G
and 40G. Network planners can make a cost-
effective choice and reduce CapEx without
increasing OpEx, and without sacrificing
ease of use, flexibility and reliability,” said
Nabil Khalil, Executive Vice President of R&M
Middle East, Turkey and Africa.
“Outside of its obvious application in data
centres, it is highly suitable to office cabling
as well where it allows the introduction of
three different speed zones depending on
the length of the permanent link. And thanks
to future-proofing, a Cat. 8.1 installation
today serves as preparation for future
demands with today’s usability thanks to the
RJ45 format.”
This backward-compatible of the Cat. 8.1
cabling system is possible because of the
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INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
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use of the standard RJ45 plug-in format.
That means that Cat. 6A patch cords, which
are still widely used, can be deployed, and
networks built on the new Cat. 8.1 solution
can still be operated with 10GbE which
is standard today. R&M has ensured that
data centres and LAN operators do not
need any additional adapters, transmission
cables or fibre optic interfaces if they are
soon migrating to the faster 25 and 40GbE
generations. After the installation of a basic
Cat. 8.1 infrastructure, faster switches and
servers can be integrated seamlessly.
R&M expects the solution to be widely
deployed in data centres, particularly in top-of-
rack and end-of-row cabling. The Swiss cabling
specialist guarantees 40GbE performance for
24-meter permanent links and up to 30-meter
channel depending on the patch cords used.
This is in line with the specifications of the
ISO/IEC and TIA standards.
The solution is also ideally suited to
buildings which require extremely fast local
data networks. Here the Cat. 8.1 system from
R&M supports the new performance level
of 25 GbE (25GBASE-T). The proposed 50m
distance in the draft technical report ISO/
IEC TR11801-9909 for this bandwidth covers
roughly two thirds of all typical link lengths
in office buildings.
Furthermore, the Cat. 8.1 cabling system
is suitable for four-pair Power over Ethernet
(4PPoE) and features R&M’s PowerSafe
quality seal. R&M PowerSafe products
exclusively feature IDC terminations and are
specifically designed and tested to ensure
they can continuously transmit high currents
in local data networks.
The basic Cat. 8.1 Permanent Link
consists of two RJ45 connection modules
and a shielded Cat. 8.2/8.1 S/FTP installation
cable. The system complies with both
standard families: ISO/IEC 11801, Class I, and
ANSI/TIA-568.2-D. In the Cat. 8.1 module,
the copper conductors are terminated using
insulation displacement contacts (IDC).
R&M supplies an optional termination
tool which installers can use to quickly and
correctly press the wires into the IDC and
also cut off overlengths.
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