Many vendors of premise wiring systems in cities the world over are advising their customers to begin installing Category 6 cabling solutions, even though no approved industry standard for Category 6 components has yet been formulated.
Although performance specifications for most of the transmission parameters of the installed Cat 6 link were established some time ago, specifications for the Cat 6 components are still under study, and the situation remains fairly fluid. And with many different proposals having been offered for consideration, it is anticipated that an industry standard will not materialise in the immediate future.
While the link level performance specifications for important parameters such as attenuation, near-end crosstalk (NEXT) and far-end crosstalk (FEXT) are fairly stable, it is likely that changes in the performance specifications of the installed link may occur for a parameter like return loss (RL).
In the interim, however, it is necessary for technicians to test the performance of a Cat 6 installation through connecting a field tester to the link-under-test with patch cables terminated with an 8-pin modular plug which 'electrically' matches the connector jack or termination of the installed link-under-test.
Until the final compilation of international standards which will define detailed performance specifications for all Cat 6 installations, and in order to facilitate current levels of testing, Fluke has designed the DSP-4000 digital cable analyser, which comes standard with a high-performance interface connector as well as a variety of link interface adapters (LIA) which plug into the generic high-performance tester connector.
According to Fluke, its DSP-4000 link interface adapters provide the most accurate field test solution in a market where current Cat 6 solutions are 'proprietary' - that is where each vendor has a unique design and performance goal for each of its premise wiring components.
Contractors may need to acquire several sets of link interface adapters in order to test Cat 6 systems from different vendors, say Fluke experts, although this requirement may be temporary.
In addition, the company advises that in the face of a situation where current Cat 6 cabling solutions are proprietary, the best path to take in constructing a link which will meet the proposed Cat 6 performance, is to ensure that all cabling components (such as cable, patch cords and connecting hardware) are selected from one vendor's Cat 6 product series. If this is not practicable, components should at least be tested for interoperability. Taking these precautions should ensure that the system will meet the link performance specifications of the proposed Cat 6 standards.
For further information contact Gary Casper, Spescom MeasureGraph, (011) 266 1500.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version