Network Infrastructure Blog

With four new ISO/IEC and TIA cabling projects under development, it is more confusing than ever to cross reference the two groups’ cabling and component specifications.  This short primer should help.

In ISO/IEC Standards, structured cabling components (e.g. cables, connecting hardware, and patch cords) are characterized by a performance “category” and are mated to form a permanent link or channel that is described by a performance “class”.  In TIA Standards, components and cabling are both characterized by a performance “category”.  ISO/IEC and TIA equivalent grades of cabling, arranged in order of increasingly more stringent transmission performance, are shown below.

Note that ISO/IEC class I/category 8.1 and TIA category 8 will not be electrical supersets of ISO/IEC class F_A/category 7_A.

Data Center and IT professionals: This infographic from Siemon examines the impact of top of rack (ToR) and structured cabling configurations on total management; scalability and upgrades; interoperability; equipment, maintenance and cabling costs; port utilization; power consumption and cooling requirements.  Structured cabling offers clear advantages.

The infographic is based on an actual 39 cabinet data center and the findings of a recent white paper by the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA) (“Navigating the Pros and Cons of Structured Cabling vs. Top of Rack in the Data Center“).

Data Center Planning Resources:

• Read white paper “Navigating the Pros and Cons of Structured Cabling vs. Top of Rack in the Data Center” by the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA)
• Learn about Siemon Data Centers Solutions.  Siemon has focused its cabling expertise into a global data center service team, capable of guiding you through the process of selecting, designing and deploying the business-critical cabling infrastructure upon which your entire data center will rely.

Siemon, a leading global network infrastructure specialist, is pleased to announce that John Siemon, CTO and vice president of global operations, was recently named one of the recipients of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) 2013 Leadership and Service Awards, which recognizes individuals for their significant contributions to national and international standardization activities, as well as ongoing commitment to their industry, their nation and the enhancement of the global voluntary consensus standards system.

Left to Right: James Pauley Chairman, ANSI Board of directors; John Siemon, CTO & VP Global Operations, The Siemon Company; Florence Otieno, Sr. Manager, International Standards, Telecommunications Industry Association; Herb Congdon, Associate VP, Technology & Standards, Telecommunications Industry Association

As the voice of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system, ANSI oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector. ANSI is also actively engaged in accrediting programs that assess conformance to standards, including globally-recognized cross-sector programs such as the ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14000 (environmental) management systems-both of which Siemon is proud to be certified.

As part of their 2013 Leadership and Service Awards, ANSI awarded John Siemon with the Astin-Polk International Standards Medal, which honors distinguished service in promoting trade and understanding among nations through the advancement, development or administration of international standardization, measurements or certification. The award was well deserved-as Siemon’s CTO, John oversees the company’s technology roadmap, intellectual property, and global membership and participation on standards bodies and trade organizations such as ANSI, ISO, IEC, CENELEC, IEEE, TIA, Ethernet Alliance, BICSI, US Green Building Council, CCCA and SDOs in a number of other countries.

Since joining the Siemon Company in 1985, John has also held a number of leadership positions, including Chairman of the TIA TR42.1 subcommittee responsible for commercial IT cabling; Chairman of BICSI’s Technical Information and Methods Committee; current Chairman of the US Advisory Group on Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25); and Project Leader and Editor for U.S. and international standards publications covering multiple generations of twisted-pair and optical fiber infrastructure used for voice and data connections throughout the world. He has also been featured in several global industry trade publications.

John Siemon was responsible for establishing the Siemon Company’s Development Engineering and R&D Laboratory. Since taking responsibility for Siemon’s Operations in 2002, John has expanded the company’s global supply chain capabilities with new manufacturing and logistics locations around the world. He is also the current Executive Vice President of the Yale Science and Engineering Association and holds more than 50 U.S. patents in the field of telecommunications cabling.

ANSI will honor John Siemon and the other 17 distinguished award recipients during an October 2 ceremony held in conjunction with World Standards Week 2013 in Washington, DC.

Portland, OR.  During last week’s TIA meetings, the TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee accepted the concept of adding ISO/IEC Class II cabling performance criteria into its pending ANSI/TIA‑568‑C.2-1 category 8 project.  The Subcommittee also agreed to create a task group, which will be co-chaired Brian Celella of Siemon and Frank Straka of Panduit, to work on developing this criteria.

Here are answers to some common questions concerning this exciting new initiative.

What is ISO/IEC Class II cabling?  Class II is the name of the new ISO/IEC grade of cabling that will be constructed from fully-shielded ISO/IEC category 8.2 cords, cables, and connecting hardware.   Both class II and category 8.2 specifications are targeted to support the 40GBASE-T application over a distance of at least 30m and are under development by the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3 Working Group.  Category 8.2 components will be an extension and superset of existing category 7_A components.

What connector interface will support this new TIA cabling?  The connecting hardware interface to support this new level of cabling has not yet been specified by TIA.  However, it is the opinion of the cabling experts at Siemon that the 8-position RJ-45 modular interface does not exhibit sufficient performance margin to support new requirements based upon ISO/IEC class II cabling.  Fully-shielded balanced twisted-pair connecting hardware characterized to 2 GHz, such as the IEC 61076-3-104 (e.g. Siemon TERA®) interface that is already standardized by ISO/IEC, would be ideal to support this new TIA level of cabling.

What are the implications of this new TIA initiative?  By accepting the concept of adding class II performance criteria and creating a task group to work on these limits, TIA is demonstrating that North American standards development organizations are ready to embrace fully-shielded cabling systems.  This is a strong and positive step towards global harmonization of the full suite of available IT network structured cabling solutions.

“40Gb/s throughput claims from cabling manufacturers are not the same as 40GBASE-T application support claims”

What is the status of the 40GBASE-T Standard?  40GBASE-T is currently under development by the IEEE 802.3bq 40GBASE-T Task Force formed in March of 2013.  The target publication date, as noted on the group’s Project Authorization Request, is February of 2016.  The Task Force has active liaisons with TIA and ISO/IEC to ensure that cabling requirements under development will support the application.

What is the difference between a 40Gb/s throughput and a 40GBASE-T application support claim?  Since the processing capabilities of 40GBASE-T PHY (i.e. the chip technology that delivers the Ethernet bit stream) aren’t yet defined, it’s impossible to guarantee 40GBASE-T application support for any media – including Siemon’s TERA® category 7_A cabling.  Many cabling experts, including Siemon, have performed 40Gb/s throughput analysis using hypothetical PHY capabilities to explore technical feasibility and justify the initiation of a higher speed Ethernet project.   However, this research can be misinterpreted as a statement about the ability of a system to specifically support the 40GBASE-T application. For example, Nexans, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania, theoretically demonstrated 40Gb/s throughput over 100 meters back in 2009. More recently, TE has released a white paper also claiming theoretical support of 40Gb/s.  While valuable for research purposes, these papers are not the same as making a 40GBASE-T application support claim because the assumptions used to make a 40Gb/s throughput statements have been based on analysis using noise cancellation levels that are far better than a real-world commercially viable PHY chipset can achieve.  In other words, statements that refer to a system’s ability to support “40Gb/s throughput” have no relevance on future compatibility with 40GBASE-T network equipment, simply because these claims and models are de-coupled from technical requirements that are yet to be specified by IEEE 802.3bq.

Are any manufacturers making a 40GBASE-T application support claim?  If the ratified 40GBASE-T Standard specifies compatibility with category 7_A or class F_A cabling, Siemon will provide retroactive and future 40GBASE-T applications assurance for all Siemon TERA category 7_A cabling systems that meet the length and topology constraints specified by that Standard. For example, if the IEEE 802.3bq Standard specifies compatibility with category 7_A or class F_A cabling having up to two connections and lengths up to 30m, we will provide 40GBASE-T applications assurance for installed Siemon TERA category 7_A cabling channels that fall within those implementation requirements.  No manufacturer is making an unconditional 40GBASE-T application support claim at this time.

When will Siemon provide a 40GBASE-T application support claim? Siemon will provide a 40GBASE-T applications support claim for specific cabling system types, lengths and topologies when Standards requirements that clearly define the cabling characteristics, baud rate, and other digital signal processing capabilities of the 40GBASE-T PHY are finalized.

Will category 8 cabling support 40GBASE-T?  When published, TIA and ISO/IEC category 8 cabling will support 40GBASE-T.  However, category 8 cabling requirements are currently in a high state of flux and claims of meeting draft category 8 performance specifications are not meaningful at this early stage of development.  Siemon cautions that a demonstration of performance to a draft category 8 cabling specification is not the same as a 40GBASE-T application support claim.