New Generation Cables for Promoting Voice Cabling

Various new experiments are applying in the communication cabling fields. Each day new technologies are embedding into the existing cabling technologies. Main factor of all types of communication technologies is the underlying cables. Cables lay the basic architecture of communication networks and it provides the secure architecture.

Voice Cabling provides basic communication through telephone lines, modems and analog lines. Transmitting voice signals over networks will provide greater flexibility for communication. It also enables long distance communication with high data rate. Cables with high data transmission rate and low cost are always preferred for transmission.

There had a revolutionary growth in the voice cabling and networking field in the recent years. It is due to the emergence of new cables with more enhanced features. The various cables existing today are categorised into various groups. The initial groups were named as Category 1(CAT1) and Category 3(CAT3). Later the Category 5(CAT5) group was developed. Several variations of cat3 and cat5 cables were later developed. Then Category 6 (CAT6) cables and its variations offer new features to the voice cabling. More enhanced features are attained by the introduction of Category 7 cables in the voice cabling fields. Fibre optics is the recent and most modern category of voice cabling.

Category 6(CAT6), Category 7 (CAT 7) and fibre optics can be considered as the new generation cables for voice cabling. 

Category 6 Cables

Category 6 cables are used for business, education and commercial purposes. It is one of the best performing cables ever developed for Structured Cabling. This latest category of cables are mainly developed using 4 twisted sets of copper wire. The Category 6 cables have a structural difference in its longitudinal separator. The purpose of this separator is to reduce the crosstalk and to provide faster data transmission.  The most important feature of CAT6 cable is its bandwidth capacity. CAT6 cables have double the bandwidth of the regular CAT5 cables. CAT6 have a capacity to support up to 10 GB Ethernet to about 37 meters or 121 feet. CAT6 provides Ethernet up to 250 MHz and thus gives more data room for data transmission.

A newer version of CAT6 is emerged recently and named as CAT 6A. CAT 6A refers to Augmented Category 6 cables. This new version CAT 6A cable is certified to support about 100 meters or 328 feet. Both CAT 6A Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) and CAT 6A Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) cables are available in markets with their own specifications. The Augmented Category 6 cables extend the frequency of CAT 6 cables up to 500MHZ. An additional performance parameter is included within the CAT 6A standard cables and it is known as Alien Crosstalk (ANEXT). This alien parameter provides additional features and specifications to category 6 cables for reducing the near-end and far-end cross talks. It helps to improve the quality and reliability of voice communication considerably.

Category 7 Cables

The most upcoming cable model is the Category 7 cables. The CAT 7 is a Shielded Twisted Pair cable type and it is used for high speed Ethernet based computer networks. Cat 7 cable is backward compatible with CAT 6 and CAT 5 cabling standards and equipments. Category 7 cables is included in the Class F specification and defined in the ISO/IEC 11801:2002.  Hence the Cat 7 cable is also referred to as ISO class F cable. This newer category cables offer more enhanced performance against attenuation and crosstalk. 

Fibre Optic Cables

The fibre optic cable is the trendiest and advanced type of cable developed for voice cabling and networking. Fibre optics technology uses the glass or plastic fibres to transmit data. The cable is composed of glass threads that can transmit signals transformed into light waves. Fibre optics technology is widely used for local area networks. Fibre optic cables provide many more enhanced features to voice cabling than the former cables. They have much greater bandwidth than the traditional metal cables. Fibre optics can transmit more data at high speeds. The fibre optic cables are less susceptible to interference compared to the metal cables. Fibre optic cables are portable and easier for handling due to their thinner and lighter structure. The data transmission in fibre optic cable is in digital format. It helps the transmission and interpretation of data easier.

The future of voice cabling and networking lies in the hands of new generation cables. These new generation cables will improve the business Network Cabling by enhancing the advanced technologies.

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