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Network Cables  

Features

• Twisted-Pair Cables. Unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling used for LANs comprises four pairs of wires, each pair twisted together wrapped within a common sheath. As the name implies, UTP cable does not contain any shielding, which is not a problem in most areas. Shielded twisted-pair (STP) is available for locations such as those with transmitter sites.
• There have been significant advances in UTP cable design over the past few years. Building upon the technological advances of networking hardware, standards have been developed not only for the manufacture of the cable, but also for the methods and criteria used in its installation.
• UTP and STP cables are manufactured and certified to meet minimum performance criteria. The rating system, which defines those criteria, is established and maintained by the Telecommunications Industry Association/Electronic Industries Association (TIA/EIA). Cables are classified in a specific category. The category (CAT) system is as follows:

1. CAT5: used with 100baseT Ethernet networks rated 100Mb/s
2. CAT5 level 5: expanded specification of CAT5 rated for 200Mhz
3. CAT5+level 6: expanded specification of CAT5 rated for 350Mhz
4. CAT5 level 7: expanded specification of CAT5 rated for 400Mhz

CAT5 cable specifications are also broken into levels, reflecting a more stringent performance criteria. Although not officially a standard, some manufacturers are producing cabling that they call CAT6. As the performance criteria differs between manufacturers, you must be careful to compare specifications. New standards are already in the works. In fact, CAT7 is presently in discussion and will most likely define an STP cable. One of the few sure things we can expect with networking — networks will get faster. Given the speed with which all things technological grow, the medium that the data will travel upon should be selected and installed to accommodate that growth.

In general, the patch cords that you use with your Ethernet connections are "straight-through", which means that pin 1 of the plug on one end is connected to pin 1 of the plug on the other end. In this particular case it is not then important to wire them as above. Pin 1 is Pin 1 etc etc. However for the sake of uniformity it may be best to wire your cables with the same colour sequence. Cross-Over cables are "crossed" end to end data cables aren't. If you have a network hub that has an uplink port on it then you do not need to make (or purchase a cross-over cable). Just switch the port on the hub to the 'uplink' mode. If your hub does not have an 'uplink' port on it then the only way to cascade another hub or attach a cable modem is to use a cross-over cable. It helps for future reference to mark or attach a tag to the cross-over cable so that you do not attempt to use it as a 'normal' patch lead at some time in the future.

The only time you cross connections in 10/100BaseT is when you connect two Ethernet devices directly together without a Network hub. This can be two computers connected without a hub, or two hubs via standard Ethernet ports in the hubs. Then you need a "cross-over" patch cable, which crosses the transmit and receive pairs, the orange and green pairs in normal wiring. In a cross-over cable, one end is normal, and the other end has the cross-over configuration. Remember you can only network two computers together with Cat5 cable. To add extra PC's to your network you will require a hub.

Our Network Cable Products

• Cat 5e Cross Over Cable, use this cable to connect two PCs directly or devices (sucn as Routers) without a uplink port. The pins are "crossed-over" (1-3, 2-6, 3-1, 4-4, 5-5, 6-2, 7-7 and 8-8).
• Cat 5e Patch Cord
• Cat 5e STP Bulk Cable
• CAT 5e UTP Plenum Bulk Cable
• CAT 5e UTP Solid Bulk Cable
• CAT 5e UTP Stranded Bulk Cable
• CAT 6 Cross Over Cable, 550Mhz
• CAT 6 Patch Cord , 550Mhz
• CAT 5e T-MOD Network Adapter

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