INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
R&M cabling system delivers
high standard in copper cabling
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Conforming to the latest
industry standard, R&M’s
Cat. 8.1 solution for data
centre and office LAN
applications supports
up to 40GbE while
maintaining backward
compatibility.
M
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
www.intelligentcio.com
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
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-metre
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. n
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