Seminar explores twisted-pair's ability to go beyond 10G

Jan 3, 2011

A web seminar hosted by Cabling Installation & Maintenance will take an optimistic look at the capability of twisted-pair cabling systems to support transmission speeds beyond 10 Gbits/sec. The seminar will be presented live on Wednesday, January 26 and then will be available for on-demand viewing for a six-month period.

The presenters -- David Hess, technical manager for standardization and technology with Berk-Tek; Valerie Maguire, global sales engineer with Siemon Company; and Ed Gastle, product line manager for network and enterprise test with JDSU -- will make the case that from standards, technology, and testing standpoints, respectively, faster-than-10G-over-twisted-pair is more than feasible but is in fact in the works.

One year ago Hess and Maguire were quoted in an article that examined this issue and covered the goings-on at a workshop held in August 2009 at Penn State University. Part of that workshop included the presentation of technical research conducted at Penn State. At that time Hess explained, "The research conducted by Penn State covers the theoretical feasibility of going beyond 10G, up to 100G over copper twisted-pair." Maguire stated, "The focus of the workshop was to investigate general technical feasibility, cabling requirements and market drivers in support of Ethernet LAN speeds greater than 10 Gbits/sec."

In a recent web seminar entitled "Cabling Infrastructure for Emerging Applications," Maguire presented material describing what network managers can do now, as they prepare for upgrades to 10-Gbit/sec transmission, to ensure they also will be equipped for down-the-road upgrades beyond 10-Gbits/sec. In that presentation she covered both copper and fiber media. On January 26 the focus will be exclusively on twsited-pair copper.

Do not expect to see much at all about unshielded twisted-pair cabling in this presentation, as all indications are that if and when twisted-pair copper does support transmission speeds beyond 10 Gbits/sec, the media will be shielded.