Novel cables pass the 10Gbit/s test

A Belden CDT (cables) product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Oct 10, 2006

In September 2006, Belden participated in a full fledged, live demonstration of 10GBase-T technology at Solarflare Communications in Irvine, California.

In September 2006, Belden participated in a full fledged, live demonstration of 10GBase-T technology at Solarflare Communications in Irvine, California.

The tests were performed using Solarflare's newly developed 10Xpress 10GBase-T PHY evaluation boards.

The validation trials were performed on a 100m Belden IBDN System 10GX channel in a worst-case, four-connector channel configuration (as specified in the TIA augmented Category 6 draft standard, which is currently under development in the TIA TR 42.7 subcommittee).

A seven-cable (six-around-one) configuration was used, with the Belden 10GX cables bundled every eight inches.

The 10Gbit/s Ethernet signals were generated using a traffic generator at the XAUI interface to the PHY evaluation boards.

The 10Gbit/s Ethernet signal was looped back at the far end transceiver and the receiver frames compared with the sending frames.

Live 10GBase-T traffic was transmitted simultaneously on all six neighbouring channels simulating a worst-case alien crosstalk environment.

There were no errors detected for the duration of the testing, which lasted over several hours.

The signal-to-noise ratio monitored during the testing was in excess of 25dB, providing a good margin over the standard.

This truly marks the first real life test to demonstrate the performance capability of 10GBase-T, using Solarflare's 10GBase-T product over Belden's 10GX augmented Category 6 cabling.

A real-life example of what this means would be the difference of transmitting high resolution pictures (600 dot/in) at 20 per minute at 1Gbit/s, compared with 200 per minute at 10Gbit/s.

The Belden IBDN System 10GX is not an improved or boosted Category 6 system, but a revolutionary new solution designed around a series of dynamic enabling technologies to ensure the highest level of alien crosstalk isolation and the best electrical performance during high frequency operation.