Ethernet, as a kind of computer networking technology, is commonly used in local area networks (LANs) and metropolitan area networks (MANs). And the rapid development of Ethernet has realized 100Gbps transmission data rate in today’s applications. As the transmission media of Ethernet network, Ethernet cables also have been improved over time. This passage is going to introduce four types of Ethernet cables: Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat7.

Cat5 cable can handle 10/100 Mbps speed (Fast Ethernet) at the bandwidth up to 100 MHz. Cat5 cable is the oldest of these three kinds of cables. Over the years, Cat5 cable was majorly used in networking especially when pairing older routers, switches and other myriad networking devices. Nowadays it’s not used for too many installations.

As the name implied, Cat5e is an enhanced version of Cat5 cable and it provides improved crosstalk specification. The crosstalk is the electromagnetic interference existing sometimes between wires inside a cable. With this feature, Cat5e can better keep signals on different circuits or channels from interfering with each other. In a word, Cat5e cable can provide a faster, more reliable and steady network than Cat5, and Cat5e is also compatible with Cat5 cable. Cat5e is designed to support 1000 Mbps or gigabit speed with bandwidth up to 100MHz, and currently it’s the most popular cable used in new installations. Here is a figure of Bulk Cat5e Cable.

Cat6 is an improvement over Cat5e. It can support the speed up to 10 gigabit and the bandwidth up to 250 MHz over long distances. It also supports the 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T, and 10GBASE-T standards. In addition, it can provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and is better suited for environments in which there may be higher electromagnetic interference. When taking any possible future updates to your network into consideration, Cat6 is the wisest choice. Here is a figure of Bulk Cat6 Cable.

Cat7 cable is designed to be used in Gigabit Ethernet. It can support speed up to 10Gbps and bandwidth up to 600 MHz. It greatly improves the capacity and reliability of Cat6. Another big advantage of Cat7 is the shielding of its twisted pairs, which significantly improves noise resistance. And because of this shielding, it is thicker, more bulky, and more difficult to bend. Cat7 is regarded as the most durable cable and has a longer lifespan than Cat 5 and Cat 6. Here is a figure of Bulk Cat7 Cable.

There are three factors that you should take into consideration: price, the performance of the cables and network environment. When deploying a network, the cost of Cat5e cable is much cheaper than Cat6 cable; Cat6 cable costs less than Cat7 cable. From the above content, we can easily find that Cat5 is enough for home network use with 10/100Mbps speed; Cat5e cable is run for the business telephones with 1000Mbps speed; Cat 6 is suited for broadband video and digital video applications with 10Gbps speed; Cat7 is great for data centers, server rooms, and telecommunication rooms with 10Gbps speed. When you plan to purchase bulk Ethernet cables, you can make a comparison between these cables and choose a cost-effective solution according to your need.

Ethernet cable which can provide cost-effective solutions is being widely used in short distance applications. These years, Ethernet cables are keeping upgrading with the development of Ethernet, from Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 to Cat 7, and even Cat 8, which is said to provide 40 Gigabit Ethernet. And I hope this passage can help to know more about Ethernet cable and make a suitable choice in your network application.

Oznake: bulk ethernet cable, bulk Cat5 cable

In the past decades, the telecommunication industry has developed rapidly. A wide selection of transmission media have been applied. Fiber optic cables are widely used in today’s network. It seems that copper cables are out of fashion. However, there are still many advantages of using copper cables. This passage is going to introduce copper cable from the aspect of types and applications.

Before we get to know copper cable, let’s learn something basic about copper. Copper is a kind of electrical conductor which has the highest electrical conductivity rating of all non-precious metals. Therefore, copper is used in many categories of electrical wiring which is the most important market for the copper industry. And copper wire is used in power generation, power transmission, power distribution, telecommunication, electronic circuity and countless types of electrical equipment.

A copper cable consists of two or more copper wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. And copper wires in a cable may be bare or they may be plated to reduce oxidation with a thin layer of another metal, most often tin but sometimes gold or silver. It is not difficult to find that many features of copper cable are related to the nature of copper, such as high tensile strength, high ductility, good creep resistance, good corrosion resistance, low coefficient of thermal expansion, high thermal conductivity, good flexibility and so on.

This part will show twisted pair cable and coaxial cable which are designed to inhibit electromagnetic interference, prevent radiation of signals, and to provide transmission lines with defined characteristics.

Twisted pair cable is a type of cable in which two conductors of a single circuit are twisted together for the purposes of canceling out electromagnetic interference (EMI) from external sources. It is often used in data networks for short and medium length connections due to its relatively lower cost compared to optical fiber. And it can divided into two kinds: UTP and STP. UTP for Unshielded Twisted Pair, no shielding; while STP for Shielded Twisted Pair, having a metal shield around each twisted pair, all pairs together are in the cable covered by insulation. The figure below shows the differences between UTP and STP.

UTP cable is the primary cable type for telephone systems. And it is also used increasingly in video application, mainly in security cameras. While STP cable is often used in business installations such as connecting home and many business computers to the telephone company. Both UTP and STP cables are found in many Ethernet networks. For example, Cat 5e UTP cable with 100-MHz bandwidth is common for current LANs; and Cat 6 UTP cable with 250 MHz bandwidth and Cat 7 STP cable with 600 MHz bandwidth are commonly used for 10GBASE-T Ethernet.

Coaxial cable is a type of cable that has an inner conductor surrounded by a tubular insulating layer, and outside the layer, there is a tubular conducting shield surrounded by the plastic jacket (shown as the figure below). Coaxial cable is extensively used in mainframe computer systems and it is the first type of major cable used for Local Area Networks (LAN). Common applications for coaxial cable today include computer network (Internet) and instrumentation data connections, video and CATV distribution, RF and microwave transmission, and feedlines connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas.

In the introduction to twisted pair cable, we speak of Cat 5 and Cat 6 cables. In fact, they belong to Ethernet cable which is one of the most popular forms of network cable used on wired networks and Ethernet networks. And Ethernet cable is commonly used to connect devices on local area networks such as PCs, routers and switches. Although Ethernet cable is limited on the transmission distance compared with fiber optic cable, it is still being widely used in short distance applications providing cost-effective and easy-to-manage solutions. In addition, Ethernet cables are keeping upgrading in these years, from Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 and Cat 7. And even Cat 8, which is said to provide 40 Gigabit Ethernet, will be applied in data centers. Ethernet cable is gradually developed to support higher data rate and longer transmission distances. Applications like G.Fast, which use copper cable for “last mile” transmission, are also becoming popular. In many houses, Ethernet cables are still their options during home network deployment.

Though fiber optic cable is popular among many data centers which need high speed transmission data rate, copper cable still plays an important role in wired networks. Believe it or not, with the development of technology, copper cable will have a better and better performance in network cabling.

Oznake: copper cable, Cat7 cable

Nowadays, data center managers are looking for cost-effective methods to provide more bandwidth, while reducing power consumption and supporting scalability. To meet these requirements, SFP+ direct attach copper cable is available on the market. This passage will focus on SFP+ direct attach copper cable and the content is divided into five parts. Now, let’s move on to the first part: Overview of SFP+ DAC.

SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cable, also known as Twinax Cable, is a high speed copper directly connected with two SFP+ housings on either end. This kind of cable is designed as a cost-effective and lower-power alternative to optical modules for short reach links in high-speed interconnect applications such as high-performance computing (HPC), enterprise networking including top-of-rack switching and network storage markets. In addition, SFP+ direct attach copper cable is a popular choice for 10G Ethernet with cable length up to 10 meters due to low latency and low cost. Here is a figure of SFP+ direct attach copper cable.

SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cable assemblies generally have two types which are Passive and Active versions.

Passive SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cable is mainly just a straight "wire" and the connectors contains few components. It has higher reliability and can offer high-speed connectivity between active equipment with SFP+ ports. The passive SFP+ direct attach cables are compatible with hubs, switches, routers, servers, and network interface cards (NICs) from leading electronics manufacturers like Cisco, Juniper, etc. And SFP+ passive copper cable is much less expensive but requires the host to do the work of driving it properly.

Active SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cable contains low power circuitry in the connectors to enhance signal integrity and can be driven from the port without additional power requirements. The active version provides a low cost alternative to optical transceivers, and is generally used for end of row (EoR) or middle of row (MoR) data center architectures for interconnect distance up to 15 meters.

One of SFP+ direct attach cable’s major applications includes Brocade, Arista, Cisco and others' network hardware with SFP+ interfaces. Also, SFP+ direct attach cable is commonly used for higher density networking equipment, Fiber Channel SAN and NAS input/output connections. Being able to provide enhanced scalability and flexibility, SFP+ direct attach cable is becoming increasingly popular for short distance top-of-rack (ToR) and middle-of-row (MoR) Data Center deployments. What’s more, SFP+ direct attach cable can be found in the applications of telecommunication equipment, data center cabling infrastructure, enterprise storage, InfiniBand SDR, DDR, and QDR, Ethernet 1G and 10G, Fiber Channel 8G and 10G, FCoE 10G, Networking, Storage, and hubs, switches, routers, servers, and NICs.

• For overhead cable routing, place the switches near the top of the racks.


• For under floor cable routing, place the switches near the bottom of the racks.


• Do not route SFP+ Cable Assemblies parallel to power cables, they should only cross at right angles.


• Do not route cables in front of fans or air ventilation areas of the rack.


• Do not kink cables.


• Do not twist connectors.


• To help manage the weight of bundled cable and ensure they do not bend over time, a cable manager or strain relief bar should be installed to support SFP+ Copper Cable Assemblies and help keep cables routed clear.

As the optimal solution for short reach 10G interconnects for high density in-rack and rack to rack equipment in data centers and wiring closets, SFP+ direct attach cable becomes more and more popular with data center managers. And I hope this passage can help you have a better understanding of the cost-effective fiber optic patch cable.

Oznake: SFP+ DAC, fiber optic

SFP, a compact and hot-pluggable transceiver, is popular in telecommunication and data communication. As we know, most SFP transceivers utilize two fibers to achieve the data transmission. Nowadays, more and more people realize that the cost of fiber counts accounts for a large proportion, so it is necessary to find a cost-effective solution in the communication field. As an optimized version of SFP transceiver, BiDi SFP may be a good option. The following passage will focus on the overview, connection method and application of BiDi SFP.

BiDi SFP is a compact transceiver module which utilizes WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology. The technology is increasingly popular among telecommunication and service operators because it can mix and transmit multiple wavelengths simultaneously over same unique fiber strand. With the use of this technology, BiDi SFP is specially designed for the high performance integrated duplex data link over a single optical fiber. BiDi SFP is compliant with the SFP multi-source agreement (MSA), and it interfaces a network device motherboard (for a switch, router, media converter or similar device) to a fiber optic or copper networking cable. Here is a figure of BiDi SFP, and it can help you get a general understanding of BiDi SFP’s connection method before we move on.

BiDi SFP uses only one port fitted with an integral WDM coupler, also known as diplexer. The WDM coupler can combine and separate data transmitted over a single fiber based on different wavelengths of the light. For this reason, BiDi transceivers are also referred as WDM transceivers. To work effectively, BiDi SFP must be deployed in matched pairs with the opposite wavelength together. Here is a figure to help you get intuitive understanding of this. If paired BiDi transceivers are being used to connect Device A (Upstream) and Device B (Downstream), then Transceiver A’s diplexer must have a receiving wavelength of 1550nm and a transmit wavelength of 1310nm; Transceiver B’s diplexer must have a receiving wavelength of 1310nm and a transmit wavelength of 1550nm.

At present, the BiDi SFP is usually used in FTTx deployment P2P (point to point) connection. In a FTTH deployment, optical fibers are used directly to connect the central office and the customer premises equipment. But because the use of P2P structure, the customer premises equipment has to be connected to the central office on a dedicated fiber. BiDi SFP can realize a bi-directional communication on a single fiber by using WDM. This makes the connection between central office and customer premises equipment become more simple. In addition, BiDi SFP can be also applied in WDM fast Ethernet links, metropolitan area network, and inter-system communication between servers, switches, routers, OADM, etc.

With the increasing demand of high density and reliability of data transmission over long distance, more and more optical communication products appear on the market. The deployment of BiDi SFP instantly doubles the bandwidth capacity of the existing optical fiber infrastructure which can be a cost-effective solution in the applications. BiDi SFP is a popular industry format jointly developed and supported by many network component vendors mainly because it saves the cost of fiber. It is certain to be the first option when choosing fiber optic transceiver applied to large data rate and long distance data transmission.

Oznake: BiDi SFP, SFP Transceiver