Cat 5 Cable

Gigabit Ethernet is the latest version of Ethernet. It transfers the data packets at the rate of 1 Gigabit per second. A Gigabit Ethernet Cable is used to connect the computers to hubs. There are two ways of doing so, one is full duplex and the other one is half duplex.

By using Gigabit Ethernet cable, the speed is increased up to 1000 Mbit/s. It follows the IEEE standards. The Gigabit Ethernet cable uses all the eight wires and therefore you should opt for a straight through option.

There are three types of Gigabit Ethernet:

1000BASE-SX It works on multi-mode fiber. These standards normally work over longer distances.

1000BASE-LX These standards work over greater distances of up to 12 km and use long wavelength laser.

1000BASE-CX These standards work on copper cabling for distances of up to 25 meters.

The Ethernet cables are shorter when it comes to distance coverage and these shorter distances cannot afford large sized networks. To overcome this limitation a repeater is used, which combines multiple cables and covers greater distances. There is another device called bridge that is used to join two different networks.

Gigabit Ethernet cabling has become a better choice for the servers and the desktop computers. Gigabit Ethernet cabling is somewhat expensive. The Gigabit Ethernet switches are expensive as compared to its adapters but in future these switches are expected to become cheaper because of the single chip silicon devices but till then the computers are directly connected to each other through adapters and not switches. Gigabit Ethernet should work mostly on CAT 5 cables, but CAT 5e specifications should be met in case you are going to purchase new cables. The standards CAT 5e cables should be used to directly connect two Gigabit Ethernet adapters. The Gigabit Ethernet standards utilize all the four pairs of CAT 5 cable. Each of the pairs transmit and receive the data simultaneously and this transmission is called Dual-Duplex. In this technique it could easily be distinguished in which direction the signals are traveling.

In order to creating a Gigabit Ethernet network using CAT 5e cable, one should follow these steps:

* The Gigabit Ethernet cards are added to the servers, * A Gigabit Ethernet switching hub is added to the network, * The servers are connected to the Gigabit Ethernet ports, * A pure quality CAT 5 cables are used.

Why to use CAT 5e cables for Gigabit Ethernet network? The CAT 5e cables are preferred over CAT 5 cables because of improved features like resistance, attenuation, capacitance and frequency.