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Anixter wants to help the channels keep their leading position in cutting-edge technologies, and participates in the development of industrial standards. With this in mind, it brings the channels the latest news in the field.

The IEEE 802.3at task force expects to publish a standard about Power over Ethernet (PoE) plus by the end of 2008. This new standard will allow to deliver up to 70 watts of power to any IP-enabled device through a standard RJ45 outlet.

In this respect -and although cabling standards specify a minimum of two telecommunication outlets per individual workstation- Anixter recommends to install additional outlets for PoE-enabled devices. This allows to provide greater flexibility, since both the switching and the electrical functions are integrated on the same network application. This is important, since many end users choose to deliver PoE directly through the data network (also known as Endspan).

Midspan PoE distributors and patch panels inject electricity directly inside the structured cabling system and are physically separated from the power network. Splitting the power and the data functions can be beneficial if we think that power distribution per port is more evenly distributed between the electrical and Midspan PoE networks.

In addition to that, with last year’s IEEE 802.3an 10GBASE-T standard, more and more manufacturers are producing and launching new products such as Ethernet card adapters and 10GBASE-T switches. Since there is greater availability of 10GBASE-T electronics, it is essential to specify the most adequate cabling system, and stick to the recommendation of Category EA (6A) cabling.

ISO/IEC is making significant progress in the field of Category EA/Category FA, and there is a new proposal to introduce a multimode OM4 fiber, with minimum modal amplitude of 4500 MHz/km, which can be useful for IEEE 802.3 and other fiber channel applications.

On the other hand, there is also work being done on the ISO/IEC 24764 draft, a generic cabling system for data centers. This standard recommends the use of laser optimized optic fiber OF300 (OM3) with an LC connector for two fibers and an MPO connector for applications with more than two fibers.

Lastly, in the field of North American cabling standard updating, TIA has recently passed Category 6 augmented and continues its work on the 568-C standard series.
For further information, you can download an explanatory article by just clicking here.

If you wish to receive further details on industrial standards, please visit www.anixter.com/literature and order a copy of Anixter’s Standard Reference Guide, or contact the nearest branch.