Upgrading to Cat6 Cable: Requirements for a Corporate Office

Cat6 , Network Cabling, Data Cabling

Technology continues to evolve and adapt to corporate requirements. Data volume has increased significantly and processing capacity demands faster access. IT managers have predicted that data production will be 44 times larger five years from now. And enterprises have to process and protect that data. Moreover, the amount of data in your business network system grows constantly.

Until recently, this was accomplished using the Cat5 cable. However, limitations is now causing some problems because it has a maximum data rate

of 1000 MB per second. New software and faster internet is requiring quicker data transfer rates. This is why Category 6 cable is preferred.

Cat6 has available bandwidth twice that of Cat5 cables. Data transfers can even reach a maximum of 10,000 MB/second in an Ethernet network. This is more than double the average of Cat 5. Both use four pairs of wires. And you need not worry about bandwidth limitations or upgrading issues. Cat 6 cables is backwards-compatible with Cat 5. Cat 6 will give you the bandwidth to meet the growing demands of your network.

The Cat 5 standard has had a long run. However, its life cycle is coming to a close as more users have better access to computers and a need for faster network speeds. This is one way of ensuring that your company will have more than sufficient bandwidth to manage this current and rapid transformation. It is also inevitable that internet speeds will continue to increase. The web provides high-density video streams, highly responsive and media-rich websites, and live updates from many users of social networks. As the value of Category 6 cables goes up, this demand cannot be disregarded. And as speeds reach the 1gb threshold, Cat5 ill become more of a future bottleneck.

With Cat6 cable, you can be assured that your network infrastructure can be more scalable as your company grows. But Cat6 cable requires new network interface cards and switches to exploit the benefits of this category. This is something that you must plan ahead to avoid any problems in the future.

The truth is Cat6 cabling architecture may cost 15 to 20 percent more than the Cat5 model. Nonetheless, Cat6 offers a safer option since it can fulfill increasing speed demands. And it is backward compatibility by using the RJ45-based connector system.

And please contact Progressive Office if you ever need help in designing an efficient and cost-effective cabling solution for your business.