atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Is anyone actually using 10 gig ethernet?

Note: I'm asking this question here because it relates directly to cabling.

As you are all well aware, most customers these days are asking for Cat 6 or 6a for their data cabling. The question is, does anyone actually use 10 gigabit ethernet, and if so, for what? By use, I mean actually move data around at that bit rate - just installing 10 gig switches and cards is one thing, but where do the bits actually come from? I have never seen a file server that could serve up data at 10 gigabits per second.

In my opinion, the only users for 10 gigabit per second are:

Telcos and ISP's in the CO and Data Center environment - almost always fiber

Military high-speed data acquisition - hardly a typical end user

Medical imaging equipment like MRI's - almost always fiber

High-End scientific users like CERN - all proprietary networks

So why on earth does the average small-to-medium business need 10 gigabits per second? Will they need it in the future?

I realize that this horse has been flogged pretty hard already, but I'm bringing it up again because now it seems like everyone wants Cat 6/6a.

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.

Not around here Jim. In fact I've only installed 1 Cat 6 drop as it was INSISTED upon by the CG involved. Did they need it it? NO!

I had even explained to the CG AND client that it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever as the rest of the network was Cat 5 or 5e. Did they listen? NO.

Did it make any difference? Again NO.

Like you stated, I have yet to find a client that needs to move that much data OR had the equipment to handle it.

I believe 10GB cable installed today is for the future. In my case, my day job company is building a new building. We're going to install two 6a and two 5e at each drop. It might be overkill, but at least we're covered for the time when 10GB does become usable.

Adding a drop here or there doesn't make sense to use cat 6, for the reasons you mentioned, but wiring a whole building without considering the future would be foolish, imho.

Jim

How many times have you installed Cat 6 (end-to-end) and then discover the customer uses cat 5e at the desktop... :shrug:

While I hear what you're saying, I don't believe there is such a thing as "future proof". Next year or next month the IT world could change what they say is needed. How long have they been pushing CAT6? As has been stated except for a very few cases it's over kill and expensive. There's a very good possibility that when the day comes that the customer would need the higher standard, those standards would have changed and you'd rip out the CAT6 and replace it with whatever the current standard would be. May as well rip out CAT5 and save the customer some bucks.

Looking at it from a Telco installer's perspective, I don't think CAT6 is going to be considered overkill for much longer. Carrier Ethernet, which will soon be offered at 100gig, is way more affordable when broken down into bits per dollar compared to your standard TDM circuits like T1. If the customer's WAN is capable of 10gig they will want their LAN to match that. I could be all wrong, but I have seen the explosion of these services over the past year and just installed my first 10gig circuit for a medium sized school district yesterday and have installed 1gig circuits for customers who have gotten by with a T1 for a long time.

"wiring a whole building without considering the future would be foolish, imho."

I agree. For that reason, we push for conduit whenever we can.

All of my customers (hospitality) ask about cat6 and sometimes 6a. 95% of their data needs are internet to guests, and I can say that 0% of them come close to maxing out cat5e, let alone cat6. That said, we haven't installed a cat5e data network in a few years. :shrug:

Half the specs I get now call for cat6 for voice. grr... :bang:

Jack

That would be as close to future proof as you could get, anything else is just a shot in the dark. Now if you could just get the customer to spring for it.

I don't believe that there is a single switch or NIC card in existance that is capable of more than 1 gig. And you can get 1 gig out of cat5e.

I don't really believe that any one will make such a thing as I think it will go to fiber before that.


Cat6 will be used for the new HDbaseT instead.