10GbE crosstalk silenced

Brand-Rex announces 10Gplus, an improved design for Gigabit Ethernet

Network cabling firm Brand-Rex has announced 10GPlus, an improved design for 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) cables to reduce cable diameter and address one of the major concerns with 10GbE copper cabling – that of alien crosstalk (AXT).

AXT occurs due to electrical interference between cables, a problem exacerbated by the higher frequencies used to achieve 10Gbit/s network transfer rates.

“If corporate IT applications are to be delivered using the new 10GBase-T protocol, they will require phenomenal processing power,” said Brand-Rex Business and Marketing director Ian Wilkie. “This significant investment is pointless unless it can be supported by an equally sophisticated cabling system. Businesses must remember that the choices made today will impact business application performance for years to come.”

Brand Rex’s research and development department spent 4,000 man-hours and filed seven new patents for the new untwisted pair (UTP) cabling, which it said “creates the maximum effective spacing between adjacent cables, while maintaining a small, lightweight and highly flexible construction.” The technology exploits the geometry of the Reuleaux triangle so it has the smallest area for a given width of any curve of constant width.

The IEEE 802.3an standard for carrying 10Gbit/s over copper cables is due to be ratified this summer, although vendors are already offering pre-standard 10GbE copper cabling systems claiming to support the standard.