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KSLLC – RFP QUESTIONNAIRE – HELP TEXT

Cat 5e cable has a tendency to have a higher delay and skew than Cat 6 cable. That
means that even though both Cat5e and Cat 6 can do 1 Gigabit networks, Cat 5e may
have a longer delay for the signal to get from one side to the other, which will give the
appearance that it runs slower.

Cat 6a, while also being 23 gauge, is considerably thicker then Cat 6, which in turn is
considerably thicker then Cat 5. Partly, this is due to the extra-thick plastic around the
wires themselves, and partly due to the tighter winding of the pairs themselves, creating
more copper per inch. Cat 6a will do 10 Gigabit per second networking for the full
distance of Ethernet (328 ft.) Cat 6a also reduces the crosstalk among the pairs, which
further reduces the delay in the cables.

If you are looking for a cable which will provide for you in the future, Cat 6a would give
you the best performance at the full distance. If, however, you have no cables over 120-
150 feeet, then Cat 6 will also give you the option for 10 Gigabit networks.

Category Cable Progression

Each newer cable standard allows the user to get higher possible speeds with lower
crosstalk. This enables the user to get those fast speeds, even with longer cables. When
compared at lengths of 100 meters of cable, the following numbers show the difference in
Ethernet cable categories:

• 1995 - Cat5 ethernet cable is typically too slow for business networks, allowing
the user to get up to 100 Mb/second speed at 100 Mhz
• 2001 - Cat5e ethernet cable allows up to 1 Gb/s internet speed with 100 Mhz
• 2002 - Cat6 ethernet cable allows up to 1 Gb/s, but cable lengths up to 55 meters
can get internet speeds of 10 Gb/s at 250 Mhz
• 2008 - Cat6a ethernet cable can get speeds up to 10 Gb/s, even at 100 meters of
cable length, operating at 500 Mhz
• 2010 - Cat7 ethernet cable is the newest cable category, operating at speeds of 10
Gb/s at 100 meters of cable and transmitting frequencies up to 600 Mhz.

The Cat5 cable was the standard in 1995, Cat5e was standard in 2001 and Cat6 came out
in 2002. The Cat6a has been around since 2008. Most businesses still have no need for
updating their hardware to Cat7 ethernet cable, much less the Cat7a or Cat8 cables that
were first released in 2010 and 2013.

450. Network Switches

460. Wireless Access Points

Wireless Access Points are required for wireless network connections. If you would like
bids for wireless solutions but you prefer that vendors provide recommendations
regarding this service, choose "as recommended" for the type.

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