In 2008, the new Cat6a and corresponding ClassE_A standards were ratified. A Cat6a cabling system is a higher specification than Cat6 and designed to meet all of the requirements of the 10GBaseT Ethernet over the full 100 metre, 4 connector channel. Cat6a is backwards compatible with Cat6 and Cat5e.

Why Install Cat6a?
At the time of writing (2009), 10GBaseT interfaces are very new, expensive and power hungry. Most users are still choosing either Cat5e or Cat6 systems, on the basis that these systems are perfectly capable of running Ethernet up to 1000BaseT, which should prove more than adequate for the foreseeable future.

The argument for installing Cat6a now is one of future proofing. It is estimated that 10GBaseT NIC cards for laptop computers will become the norm in around 2012. Thereafter, only installations with Cat6a cabling will be sure of being able to exploit this new bandwidth. Therefore, the logic goes, if the planned lifetime of a new cabling system us five or more years, Cat6a should be considered as an option. If the planned lifetime is ten or more years, Cat6a definitely appears to be the favoured solution, even for relatively low performance users.

Areas where Cat6a is already proving popular include Data Centres and Building Backbones, where users will wish to exploit the 10GBaseT interfaces as soon as it becomes more cost effective than the 10G fibre equivalent. Again, this is likely to be by around 2012 or even earlier.

* ETL listed
* CMR rated
* Dual Footage marking
From 1000Ft to 0Ft / 305m to 0m
* Capable of handling full broadband and baseband video signals

Cat6 Full Specs