Panduit Category 8 system gains third-party confirmation, meets draft standard

Panduit announced that its Category 8 copper cabling system has been tested and confirmed by Intertek, an independent third party laboratory, to meet the latest draft of the proposed Category 8 TIA-568-C.2-1 standard for data centers.

“Panduit has successfully developed a full 30-meter system that meets the latest Category 8 draft standard,” stated Antoine Pelletier, project engineer, Intertek. “The successful performance of this system shows the industry is embracing this new challenging standard that has 4 times the bandwidth of existing Category 6A to support both 25 and 40 Gigabit transmission.”

Category 8 cabling systems are designed to support Ethernet data rates of 25GBASE-T and 40GBASE-T at channel lengths up to 30 meters. Panduit notes that these systems are designed for the data center of the future, by providing the simple, cost-effective, and universal RJ45 interface for both end-of-row and top-of-rack architectures. TIA standards for Category 8 and 25/40GBASE-T are expected to be ratified in 2016.

“We are excited to showcase Panduit’s latest technology,” said Panduit’s Marc Naese, vice president of the company's Data Center business. “Panduit’s Category 8 system is the latest in a line of innovative data center offerings, such as the PanMPO fiber connectors, HD Flex Fiber cabling system, and our small diameter copper cabling systems. This latest technology demonstration is another milestone on top of the work we have done with Ethernet industry leaders.”

Panduit has been part of the IEEE Next Generation BASE-T Study Group, the IEEE P802.3bq 40GBASE-T Task Force, and the IEEE 25GBASE-T Study Group.

These IEEE groups bring together hardware and cabling vendors to work together to create requirements for both next generation Ethernet equipment and the next generation Category 8 cabling systems, designed to run 25 and 40GBASE-T. To date, Panduit has provided 17 publicly available contributions within these groups to support the development of these new applications.

Panduit will showcase the Category 8 cabling system at the BICSI 2015 Fall show in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 21-23.