Cat5e cabling to soon become obsolete for offices

Category 5e cabling, which is used in many offices around the world, will soon be considered obsolete for new installations following a recent decision by the ISO/IEC cabling standards body.

After careful consideration of technology trends, wired and wireless bandwidth requirements and current market demand for the various cabling types, the ISO/IEC Working Group (JTC1/SC25 WG3) responsible for the development of the 11801 standard recently decided to upgrade the minimum recommendation for horizontal cabling in offices. 

At the recent working group meeting in Milan, Italy, the group agreed to raise the minimum horizontal cabling requirement stated in ISO/IEC 11801-2 for offices (expected publication on or before 2017) from Class D (Category 5e)  to Class E (Category 6), with a recommendation for Class EA (Category 6A) or better cabling. 

Class D cabling is still the minimum requirement in the drafts of 11801-3 (industrial) and 11801-4 (single-tenant homes), but upgrades may be considered in the near future. 

In the drafts of 11801-5 (data centres) and 11801-6 (distributed services), the minimum requirement is already Class EA cabling. For new office installations, Class E will now become the minimum requirement, with a recommendation to specifiers and customers to deploy Class EA to support applications with alien cross-talk requirements, enabling the smooth migration to 2.5, 5 and ultimately 10 Gbps.

Published more than 20 years ago, the ISO/IEC 11801 standard was the first international standard for cabling in commercial buildings and helped pave the way for consistent implementation of voice and data cabling on a global basis. It enabled the explosive growth and mass deployment of ethernet and IP communications everywhere in the world. In its first edition, the standard defined Class D balanced cabling — based on Category 5 copper components — to provide an upgrade path from 10 to 100 Mbps up to 100 m. At that time, some experts and industry observers argued that 100 Mbps (100BASE-T) to the desk was overkill for the typical office user.

Fast forward 20 years to today, where many would say that 100BASE-T technology is in rapid market decline. Now 1000BASE-T (1 Gbps) is commonplace for desktop personal computers and laptops, as well as a wide range of other devices such as phones, cameras and wireless access points (WAPs).

The 11801 standard now includes additional cabling classes that were introduced to enable support of up to 10 Gbps, including the addition of Class E (Category 6), Class F (Category 7) and, more recently, Class EA (Category 6A) and Class FA (Category 7A).Today 1000BASE-T is commonplace and, once again, some experts and industry observers argue that 1 Gbps is overkill for the typical office user. However, others predict the rapid adoption of speeds beyond one gigabit within horizontal cabling, expecting the increasing bandwidth demand in offices to support applications such as telepresence, video conferencing, high-definition imaging, 3D printing and others.

Additionally, wireless LAN speeds are rapidly increasing due to media-rich user expectations and the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets. Wireless LAN infrastructures are getting upgraded at a rapid pace to IEEE 802.11ac, offering peak speeds of up to 7 Gbps and with backhaul requirements exceeding the 1 Gbp supported by Class D and Class E cabling. As a result, new IEEE specifications are being developed for 2.5GBASE-T — targeted at installed Class D cabling  — and 5GBASE-T, targeted at installed Class E cabling. However, the transmission requirements of 2.5 and 5GBASE-T exceed the Class D and Class E specifications.

While it is expected that a sizeable percentage of the installed base will be able to support the faster speeds, the definition of supported configurations and use cases is currently in development. In some cases, the costly and time-consuming alien cross-talk qualification of Class D and Class E installed cabling may be required to verify support of 2.5 and 5GBASE-T, and some mitigation steps may be required.

The 2.5 and 5G specifications in development are based on 10GBASE-T technology, using scaled-down 10GBASE-T capabilities. As a result, it is also expected that the rapid market growth of 2.5 and 5GBASE-T will result in downward price pressure and efficiency improvements for 10GBASE-T technology. Some industry analysts predict that these developments will accelerate the growth of 10GBASE-T deployments in office applications, supporting even higher speeds for WAPs and enabling other bandwidth-intensive applications.

The working group meeting in Milan was the first meeting attended by the recently combined CommScope and BNS global standards team, made up of experts with a long track record of standards participation. More than 60 cabling experts from 19 countries arrived at the decision to raise the minimum horizontal requirement in offices to Class E. This historic milestone effectively marks the obsolescence of Class D — a full 20 years after its initial introduction in the international standard — and positions Class EA as the optimal horizontal medium for new office installations. 

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/alwyncooper

*As Vice President for Intelligent Buildings in the Asia-Pacific region, Matias Peluffo has overall responsibility for CommScope’s strategy to deliver breakthrough innovations and customer value in the building segment. Matias plays a leading role in CommScope’s contribution to the international organisations that develop standards for cabling systems and contributes to the strategic direction and establishment of industry governing standards. He has participated actively in ISO/IEC JTC1/SC25/WG3 since 1996 and also contributes to the work of CENELEC TC215 and IEC SC46. Matias holds a bachelor’s degree from the Eugene Lang College in New York and a certificate in telecommunications management from Columbia University.