The TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee approved ANSI/TIA‑568‑C.2‑1, “Specifications for 100Ω Category 8 Cabling” for publication in June, 2016. Category 8 cabling is a shielded balanced twisted-pair media type constructed from category 8 components designed to support 25GBASE‑T and 40GBASE‑T. ANSI/TIA‑568‑C.2‑1 specifies mechanical and transmission requirements and laboratory and field test verification methods for a two connector, 30 meter channel, which is an optimized topology for making server to switch connections in middle-of-row and end-of-row data center deployments. Category 8 transmission parameters are specified over the frequency band of 1 MHz to 2 GHz.

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