Category: Standards

IEEE 802.3 Study Group formed to investigate Next Generation BASE-T

By Valerie Maguire,

The wait is over!  During this week’s IEEE 802.3 meetings in San Diego, a new Study Group was formed to investigate creating a “Next Generation BASE-T” balanced twisted-pair copper Ethernet application.  A call-for-interest (CFI) presentation profiled the ever increasing server uplink speeds found in the data center; leading to the prediction that 40 Gbps and even higher Ethernet speeds will be required to support these connections in the near future.  Discussion focused on the unique features and benefits of balanced twisted-pair cabling, including backward compatibility, auto-negotiation, and small form factor, that are driving the need for a Next Generation BASE-T data center application.  Once the Study Group is formed, issues such as reach, topology, media performance, throughput, and PHY (Ethernet chip) complexity will be investigated in detail.  61 individuals from 40 companies, including Siemon, formally supported the CFI presentation.

Here is the link to the IEEE 802.3 call-for-interest (CFI) announcement and slide presentation if you would like to learn more:

Not All Fiber Optic Assemblies are Created Equal [INFOGRAPHIC]

By Valerie Maguire,

In this Infographic, we look at the results of benchmark tests comparing fiber optic cable assemblies from established global manufacturers versus low-cost generic assembly house options and explore the potential impact on your network.

Tests by Siemon Labs (view fiber jumper testing white paper) were conducted looking at fiber jumper compliance to IEC and TIA industry standards and other parameters.

 

View Siemon’s full line of fiber jumpers.

Siemon’s Stance on White Paper Titled, “Suitability of Category 7A/Class FA As A Future Proofing Media For 40 Gbps Applications”

By Valerie Maguire,

The purpose of this document is to communicate Siemon’s position in response to a recent paper from a competitor titled, “Suitability of Category 7A/Class FA As A “Future Proofing Media For 40 Gbps Applications,” dated April 2012.  This document also conveys Siemon’s interpretation of standards activities relating to suitability of class FA cabling (comprised of category 7A components) for future networking applications having transmission rates above 10Gbps.

The TIA TR-42.7 Baseline Objectives for Next Generation Cabling identify the characteristic, “must exceed the TIA category 6A specification in at least 1 parameter” as “nice to have”.  Furthermore, the IEC/PAS 61076-3-104 Standard, which describes the performance of the Siemon TERA™ interface, is being updated to support frequencies up to 2 GHz.  Because class FA exceeds all category 6A specifications for every transmission parameter, class FA cabling is better positioned to support extended lengths, reduced latency, and reduced power consumption than any other copper media type, when a 40Gbps application is finally approved.  In the absence of application objectives or an IEEE 802.3 40Gbps call-for-interest (CFI), no one, including Siemon, can make definitive claims about the ability of specific twisted-pair cabling implementations to reliably support transmission rates up to or beyond 40Gbps at this time. Our position on the inaccurate statements included in the competitor paper regarding class FA cabling is provided below:

1Misstatement:  “[The TIA Category 7A PAR] was not accepted by TIA TR-42.7 as sufficient to meet the needs of 40GBASE-T”

Fact: The TR-42.7 motion for this new project request failed to achieve greater than 2/3rd’s majority support by one vote (10 votes in favor and 5 votes opposed).  While there was great interest in adopting class FA/category 7A requirements, there were several voting members who expressed the opinion that 40Gbps speeds could be realized by cabling with performance less stringent than class FA.

2Misstatement:  “Whether the crosstalk is mitigated via signal processing or cable sharing, from this perspective, Category 7A and Category 6A cabling in the absence of alien crosstalk are equivalent.”

Fact: An Ethernet physical layer device (PHY) can detect less noise in a screened/shielded system during the training mode and back-off on the FEC (forward error correction) algorithm, which results in lower power consumption.  Power savings is highly variable, but can be up to 10% with incremental savings based on channel length and noise immunity.  For example, power back off savings potential is greater for category 6A F/UTP channels versus category 6A UTP channels, and is greater for category 7A S/FTP channels versus category 6A F/UTP channels.

3Misstatement:  “Adapter cords are not an acceptable solution since the customer will be forced to maintain two sets of equipment cords to ensure interoperability and portability between new and legacy installations.”

Fact: Hybrid cords that adapt from one interface to another are commonly used in both twisted‑pair (e.g. block-based systems) and optical fiber (e.g. MPO/MTP to LC systems). These solutions are fully standards compliant and, in some cases, provide additional security.  In no case is there a need for customers to maintain two sets of equipment cords.

4Misstatement:  “The majority of category 7A installations are installed as a hybrid system using category 7A cable with category 6A shielded RJ45 connectors and cords.  This essentially makes the installed cabling system a category 6A solution.”

Fact: Only category 7A connectors are deployed in Siemon class FA cabling systems.  The RJ‑45 modular plugs at both ends of the channel are considered equipment connections and are outside of the scope of both the TIA and ISO/IEC channel definitions as shown in the figure excerpted from ANSI/TIA-568-C.2 below.  Irrespective of the equipment interface, class FA compliant cabling channels comprised of category 7Acompliance cables and connectors provide significantly higher channel capacity than any other class or category of balanced cabling.

5Misstatement:  “At present, category 7A is a cabling specification that is not called out by any LAN or SAN application Standard”.

Fact: Class F cabling (comprised of category 7 components) is explicitly called out as a recognized media in the IEEE 802.3an 10GBASE-T Standard and the newer class FA specification is expected to be incorporated into the next edition IEEE 802.3-2012 Standard.  Furthermore, ISO/IEC has initiated a new Work Item Proposal tentatively titled, “ISO/IEC 11801‑99-x Guidance for balanced cabling in support of at least 40 GBit/s data transmission, Part 2” to develop guidelines addressing the 40 Gb/s capacity exhibited by existing classes of cabling, including class FA.While there is no formal IEEE 802.3 40Gbps project Call-For-Interest at this time, all early indicators show that there is great industry commitment to and investment in the future of copper-based Ethernet.  Siemon actively participates in the TIA and ISO/IEC Cabling Standards committees that are developing modeling and performance specifications, in addition to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group.  We stand behind our mission to engineer the highest performing cabling solutions and provide fact-based product selection information to our customers.

In summary:

  • Siemon’s class FA compliant TERA™ solution is the highest performing copper system on the market (globally) and, as such, is better positioned to support future and emerging applications than any other copper balanced twisted-pair media type.
  • Screened and fully-shielded systems offer power-saving advantages to PHY developers.
  • Hybrid cords are approved and commonly used in both copper and optical fiber cabling systems.  The RJ-45 plugs at the channel ends are used for equipment connections and are not part of the TIA and ISO/IEC channel models.
  • Siemon participates heavily in standards development and is conservative in our statements and performance claims.

 

  Category: Cabling Standards News, Standards
  Comments: Comments Off on Siemon’s Stance on White Paper Titled, “Suitability of Category 7A/Class FA As A Future Proofing Media For 40 Gbps Applications”

ISO/IEC Initiates 40 GBit/s Copper Cabling Project

By Valerie Maguire,

A New Work Item Proposal (NWIP) to develop requirements for balanced twisted-pair cabling capable of supporting 40 GBit/s data transmission  was initiated by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3 in October, 2011 at the Working Group’s  Melbourne, Australia meeting.  This proposal affirms the international cabling Standards community’s vision of supporting greater than 10 GBit/s Ethernet speeds with copper cabling.

The working title of this new project is expected to be, “ISO/IEC 11801-99-x Guidance for balanced cabling in support of at least 40 GBit/s data transmission” and the scope of work will address capabilities of both existing ISO/IEC 11801 compliant channels and channels with extended and/or enhanced performance characteristics.  These dual scopes will form Part 1 and Part 2 of the project as described below.

Part 1: Specification of the transmission characteristics of channels having at least two ISO/IEC 11801 compliant connections whose worst case length is the maximum practically achievable to support 40 Gbit/s data transmission.

Part 2: Specification of the transmission characteristics of channels consisting of connections exhibiting performance headroom to ISO/IEC 11801 requirements (e.g. higher bandwidth performance and/or improved transmission characteristics).  The transmission characteristics of these channels may be specified at or beyond their current bandwidth, with or without extended limit characterization, for 100 meter or shorter topologies, and with four or fewer connections.

Tutorials on expected channel capacity and anticipated electronics-related signal processing (e.g. noise cancellation) from ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3 experts will help to define the capabilities of existing class EA and FA channels under a variety of performance and topology conditions, as well as identify opportunities for specification enhancement.

No objectives related to media, bandwidth, compatibility with TIA, or other characteristics have been defined at this time.  Brian Celella actively participates in the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25/WG 3 Working Group and we will keep you advised when significant milestones are reached.

TIA Adopts Next Generation Cabling Baseline Objectives

By Valerie Maguire,

The TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee confirmed industry interest in a greater than 10 Gb/s copper-based Ethernet application when the following new cabling project was initiated in February, 2011:

Project Title: Specifications for 100Ω Next Generation Cabling

Scope: Develop a new category of cabling to support future applications beyond 10GBASE-T.

Justification: A new category of cabling to support increased capacity for future applications.

Next Generation Cabling performance parameters, which are anticipated to be published in addendum 1 to ANSI/TIA-568-C.2 in 2014, are being concurrently investigated by four task groups focused on the subjects of Application Space, Capacity, Cables, and Connectors. Siemon is committed to supporting both this project and next generation Ethernet applications. In fact, Brian Celella of Siemon is Chairing the Next Generation Connector task group and Valerie Maguire, also of Siemon and the author of this blog, is the Document Editor.

The scope of this exciting new project is converging and the TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee adopted the following baseline objectives for Next Generation Cabling in October, 2011:

While there is no formal IEEE 802.3 project Call-For-Interest at this time, all early indicators show that there is great industry commitment to and investment in the future of copper-based Ethernet. Siemon expects this application to continue to evolve with ever increasing data carrying capability well into the foreseeable future.