Making a decision to migrate an existing network up to Category 6 (CAT 6) is a big choice. As you are determining what cable type to install the decision usually comes down to performance vs. cost. However there is one other item to determine which is, “The Life Cycle of the Product”. Category 6 is the best choice for future proofing your network.
Most networks today are structured with Category 5e (CAT 5e) technology, but migrating to CAT 6 provides several benefits. The general difference between CAT 5e and CAT 6 is in the transmission performance and extension of the available bandwidth from 100 MHz for CAT 5e to 250 MHz for CAT 6. Migrating to CAT 6 provides better insertion loss, near end crosstalk (NEXT), return loss and equal level far end crosstalk (ELFEXT). These improvements give a higher signal-to-noise ratio, allowing higher reliability for current applications and higher data rates for future applications. The additional performance parameters provide a sort of "forgiveness factor" for things that happen within a cabling infrastructure over its lifetime assuring that bandwidth remains available for applications. The bandwidth referred to above is the bandwidth to achieve a positive signal to noise ratio between insertion loss and power sum near end crosstalk (PSACR is greater than 0). CAT 6 cabling performance is specified to 250 MHz, or 25 percent beyond the 0 dB PSACR frequency of 200 MHz.
Reasons to choose CAT 6 over CAT 5e:
Bandwidth requirements are pushing CAT 5e to its limits
Cost differential of CAT 6 over a CAT 5e network is as low as 35%
Avoid costly network down time with older cabling plant
Since it is only:
5% of IT Installation cost
Lifespan likely to be at least 10-15 years
Cost to replace older cabling plant could be over 2 to 4 time’s original costs
Normally the most expensive portion of a new CAT 6 system is installing new cable. Labor costs cover most of the charges, and the connectivity infrastructure comprises only about 5% of the overall IT budget. It doesn’t matter if you are installing CAT 3 or CAT 6 cable. Both take the same amount of time and labor to install. However installing a non CAT 6 network that will become obsolete in a short period of time can seriously increase your investment having to go back and install new cable to replace the obsolete network. This can increase your costs by two to three times the normal cost of a typical network installation.
Will my network be able to grow with what I have installed or as new technology comes forward will it be obsolete? Industry standards show that cable infrastructure, with good installation techniques, normally lasts for ten to fifteen years with other components of the network changing from every two to five years, such as software and active components, however to use these new components your core infrastructure must be able to meet their needs. However as new cable technologies are developed then it only follows that older cable technology will become obsolete. In the last ten years there have been at least four cable types for network connectivity that have been retired: Coax, CAT 3, CAT 4, and CAT 5 cable plants. With this past history it only behooves the IT manager to install the latest standard cable available for future proofing his network.
The choice today is to install CAT 6. A CAT 6 network infrastructure will meet all your network needs, and a will only guarantee the future of your network well into the next decade.
