R&M has launched a universal Cat. 8.1 cabling system to support up to 40GbE.
The cabling system is backward-compatible as it is based on the standard RJ45 plug-in format. That means Cat. 6A patch cords used to date can still be deployed; networks can still be operated with 10GbE which is standard today; 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 network generations 25 and 40GbE.
After the installation of a basic Cat. 8.1 infrastructure, faster switches and servers can be integrated seamlessly. The basic Cat. 8.1 infrastructure (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.
The original intent of use for this system was in data centres, particularly with regard to top of rack and end of row cabling. Here, Cat. 8.1 cabling is due to transmit up to 40GbE in future. The company guarantees the performance for the 24m permanent link and the up to 30m channel, depending on the patch cords used.
The second area of application is in buildings which require extremely fast local data networks. Here the system supports the new performance level of 25GbE (25GBASE-T). The proposed 50m distance in the draft technical report ISO/IEC TR11801-9909 for this bandwidth thus 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).