One of the main arguments in favor of installing CAT-6A infrastructure now, is to future proof the network. Therefore, if the planned lifetime of a new cabling system is five or more years, CAT-6A should be considered as an option. If the planned lifetime of the network is ten years or more, CAT-6A definitely appears to be the favoured solution.

Over the last 5 to 8 years, Category 6(CAT-6) cable and connectors have become a basic requirement for new buildings in order to support Gigabit network applications and support bandwidths of up to 250MHz. Category 6A (CAT-6A) the “a” being for augmented, which supports data rates of 10G up to 100 meters and a bandwidth of up to 500MHz has begun to growing popularity. Many Data Centres, hospitals and universities have adopted CAT-6A as a new minimum requirement.

In fact, when considering the use of CAT6A components in a 10Gbps, Class EA network, consider the following factors:

• CAT-6A is recommended for new Installations in Healthcare
• CAT-6A is recommended for new installations in Education
• CAT-6A provides enhanced performance for Power over Ethernet (PoE)
• CAT-6A supports wireless systems that rely on 10Gig

Cat 6 vs. Cat 6a

The Category 6 Augmented cable standard, or Cat 6a, was created to further improve the performance of Cat 6 Ethernet cables. Using Cat 6a enables 10 Gigabit Ethernet data rates over a single cable run up to 328 feet. Cat 6 supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet only up to 164 feet of cable length. With the higher performance, Cat 6a cables generally cost more than Cat 6 and are slightly thicker. Cat 6a still uses the standard RJ-45 connector.