BICC swaps sides in Cat fight

Cat6 pioneer says there are no applications that require the technology.

Cable manufacturer BICC Brand-Rex, one of the first to produceechnology. Category 6 (Cat6) copper cable, has rethought its position and now argues there is no need for the technology.

Despite the fact that a standard for Cat6 is not expected until late 2000, vendors - including Alcatel and ITT Network Systems - are producing a raft of pre-standard offerings.

"No IT manager can sit down and say I must have Cat6 or else these applications won't work," said Barry Elliott, technical marketing manager of BICC Brand-Rex. "Optical fibres are the way to go if you need more than Cat5e."

Elliott argued that Gigabit transmissions required Cat5 enhanced (Cat5e) cabling but "Cat6 is a long way off and not strictly necessary."

Alan Flatman, an independent networking consultant, argued that there is a place for Cat6. He said that the days are numbered for Cat5 cabling with increasing bandwidth demands from multimedia traffic.

"We are squeezing the very last ounce out of Cat5 and although there are no applications that currently demand Cat6, since the incremental cost is relatively small, Cat5 is strategically dead," said Flatman. "Installing the correct cabling is a longterm investment, and as such companies should look towards Cat6, or at the very least Cat5e."

Intel is developing Gigabit over copper products, which it intends to release in 1999. Andrew Greenhalgh, Intel's marketing manager for networking products, believes that these products will work over existing infrastructures.

An IEEE standard for Cat5e is expected in March and will specify how Gigabit speeds can be achieved on copper cables.