Emerging Tech CAT 7/7A - Next-wave Connectivity

Today's world of digitization is being bombarded with advanced technologies which are speed and bandwidth hungry. Network infrastructure is a fundamental and critical component that extends maximum benefits of any technology. Networking is shifting towards real-time application access from just basic connectivity. Data centers, emerging convergence, high-computing business/IT operations and top-of-the-rack switching technologies have changed the requirements for the underlying physical network.

Speed and bandwidth are the key needs of network infrastructure. In this regard, Cat 7/7A in copper category is the next wave in infrastructure performance. Several cables go into a network and this is related to network's topology, protocol, and size. Category 7 and augmented category 7A (Cat 7/7A) cable, a copper cable standard for ethernet and other inter-connect technologies have evolved.

Cat 7/7A is a technology that allows sheath sharing and it enables multiple applications running on the same 4-pair cable. As the categories build from 5e to 7, the speed at which data is transfered across the network wiring increases for advanced network applications. For example, while category 5e network wiring is rated to 100 MHz, standards compliant category 7 cables provide 700 MHz data transfer rates.

Category 7A is defined at frequencies up to 1,000 MHz. Forty gigabit ethernet is possible at 50 m, and 100 G ethernet is possible at 15 m. It is backward compatible with traditional Cat 5 and Cat 6 ethernet cables. Cat 7 features even more strict specifications for cross-talk and system noise than Cat 6. To achieve this, shielding has been added for individual wire pairs and the cable as a whole. Besides the foil shield, the twisting of the pairs and number of turns per inch causes RF shielding and protects from cross talk.

Embracing Cat 7/7A

Cat 7/7A is an ideal solution for data center/high computing business operations. Data centers demand non-blocking and predictable performance. Enterprise networks in the past were designed for specific applications while new cloud designs in the data center can address a multitude of applications.

Enterprises are using bandwidth-intensive, internet-led applications such as VoIP, videoconferencing, visualization, cloud computing, etc. This is clearly a radical departure from today's over-subscribed networks in which delays and high-transit latency are inherent. Therefore Cat 7/7A is a perfect solution as it provides 600/1,000 MHz data transfer rates, respectively.

A Cyber Media Research report shows the data center services market is likely to increase at 23% to reach `11,800 crore in 2012. The third party data center services market, that makes up for 20% of the overall market, is slated to grow at 34% to touch `2,800 crore by 2012. Hence Cat 7/7a can play a pivotal role for all high-computing needs.

Though it is expensive now, enterprises which have a planning of around 10 years justify the cost of a Cat7 deployment because it saves money vis-à-vis alternative cabling methods.