Draka Innovation Delivers High-Performance Cat.6 Data Cable with Slim Profile

Prysmian Group –the world’s largest cable manufacturer – maintains its market leading position through a secure focus on research and innovation.  Investment in R&D has led to the situation where Prysmian holds a range of patents for data cable in both copper and fibre while the global reach of the company allows it to capitalise on the best technologies and skills from around the world.

An example of the benefits of this resource is the revolutionary Draka UC400 Cat.6 U/UTP HD cable which meets the performance specifications for Category 6 cable, but within a dimension of 5.25mm.

Tayfun Eren, Technical Sales / Product Manager for Draka Multimedia Solutions, describes a revolutionary new product

What’s unique about the Draka Cat6 HD cable?

Category 6 cables deliver a 1Gbit data rate, the same as Category 5e cables, but with an increase in bandwidth from 100 MHz to 250 MHz.   However, the installation of existing Category 6 cables increases costs by around 20% because of their larger diameter.  The cost increase is not due to the larger cable so much as the consequent increase in the size of conduits, cable trays etc.

Manufacturers have therefore been looking for ways to produce slimmer Cat.6 cables.   Initial products with a slimmer profile have been introduced, but they can only deliver the full Cat.6 performance over a limited length.  Third party tests for the performance of Cat.6 cable test 90m lengths.  Any cable that cannot produce optimum performance over 90m cannot be tested and therefore cannot be given the certified quality and performance warranties.

Prysmian Group, on the other hand, has developed the Cat.6 U/UTP HD cable. This product is just 5.25mm in diameter yet meets the full specification for Cat.6 over 90m.  It has therefore been approved by 3P – a recognised third party independent tester.  The Draka branded cable also delivers higher bandwidth (400 MHz) than any standard Cat.6 cable.

Because Draka Cat.6 U/UTP HD cable is comparable in size to Cat.5e cable there is no need to replace conduits, trays etc – hence there is very little price difference between the installation of Cat.5e and Cat.6 overall infrastructures.

What about POE?

Power-over-Ethernet (POE) technology is the capacity to transmit power and data through the same data cable.   Power transfer causes the cable to heat, due to the resistance effect.  Heat degrades cable performance and as a result the cable may not be able to transmit data over the important 90m length.

Other cables on the market have achieved a slim profile by reducing the copper content.  The reduced copper is the reason that they cannot typically meet the performance standard over 90m but it also causes problems for POE applications.   Reduced copper content increases the resistance and causes a greater heat build-up, increasing the degradation and performance of the cable.

In contrast, the development of the Draka Cat.6 HD cable does not rely on reduced copper content to achieve its performance or its reduced diameter. The result is a cable that not only meets Cat.6 performance specifications but also supports POE applications up to 60W.  It also meets POE, POE+, 4-Pair POE standards.

As a contributor to the committees working on POE technology, Prysmian Group has invested in both the technical skills to develop the solution and in the facilities to prove its performance.  In these rigorous testing facilities, Draka Cat.6 HD cable has been tested for worst-case scenarios such as when installed in a conduit and a tray. The company therefore has accurate performance data as outlined in Figure-1.

Source: Technical MMS UK