AT&T Cabling Systems

AT&T CopperLine: The Power of Number OneNovember 2014

AT&T Cabling Systems provides complete and state-of-the-art LAN cabling solutions and components for all needs of enterprise customers. Our high-performance network infrastructure solutions based on innovative designs and highly advanced technology are the first choice for all applications. Combining unmatched reliability with the unparalleled AT&T Millennium™ Lifetime warranty, AT&T Cabling Systems are your key to years of fail-safe and trouble-free operation, minimizing system down-time and maximizing your profits.

Overview

AT&T Millennium™ is a trademark of AT&T Cabling Systems

Quality and Performance

All AT&T CopperLine products fully conform toEU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS-2)

Part 1

AT&T CopperLine

The AT&T Brand

For this reason, each and every product sold bearing the AT&T Logo must pass the rigorous AT&T QA inspection & approval, thus ensuring the excellence expected from all AT&T products.

AT&T spent 139 years building the AT&T Brand name, which is recognized today for the quality , innovation and performance of its products, being ranked among the top-ten world’s most valuable brands.

The buildup of AT&T Cabling Systems’ quality

Quality cannot be inserted into a product after it was produced – it has to be built into it step by step:• Basic design• Technical specification• Raw materials selection• Production machines design & production method• Inline inspection• Final testing

QALAN Cabling products are unique:Most of them cannot be 100% tested at the production plant, but they are 100% tested after installation.In order to ensure their quality, AT&T Cabling products pass unparalleled testing levels.Level 1:The following products are tested in the production plants at the component level - all reports recorded and available for customer’s inspection:• Every drum or box of cable - partial test – open end.• Each batch of cable – full test (100m sample).• Cables type testing include installation and aging simulations.• 100% of all CAT 6 and CAT6A modular cords are tested from both ends.• 100% of all pre-terminate bundles, cassettes and harnesses tested as PLs.• 100% of all CP cords tested as a channel (with 1m modular cord).• All connector types are periodically tested at the component level based

on suitable sampling programs.• Non-categorized metal and plastic parts are tested and verified for

compliance with all mechanical and environmental requirements.

QA (Contd.)Level 2:The following products are quarterly tested and verified by ETL at the component level:• Horizontal cables.• CAT 6 & CAT6A RJ45 Jacks (AXT of CAT 6A jacks is verified with the panels) • CAT 6 and CAT6A modular cords.PLs and channels are tested by ETL upon request.

Level 3:All products are quarterly tested and verified by AT&T (USA) using their own QA system and methods.

The intensive testing done by 3 independent bodies verifies that no faulty product is shipped, and this enables us to provide the AT&T Millennium™ Lifetime Warranty.

AT&T Millennium™ is a trademark of AT&T Cabling Systems

QA Notes

1. Testing at the component level is the only method recognized by the standards to approve and verify the performance of cabling components.Testing permanent links and channels is used only at installed cabling (field testing with hand-held instruments) or in order the demonstrate the performance of links & channels in some extreme cases (to be shown later).

2. This presentation deals with CopperLine products but it should be mentioned that also FiberLine products are being tested for optical performance (OTDR) and verified as follows:• 100% of all FO cables.• 100% of all FO cords, including MPO & MTP assemblies and harnesses.• 100% of all FO pre terminated panels and cassettes.In addition:• Mechanical performance of FO cables is tested on every batch.• All test reports are recorded and available upon request.

Margin

AT&T components are designed with the highest margins possible in all transmission parameters.The following slides explain the importance of margins and show some typical results.

Full AT&T test reports for each component are available upon request.Full ETL test reports are available upon request.All ETL verifications are available online at http://www.intertek.com/ETL-Verified-Directory/Cabling-Products/ATT-Cabling-Systems/AT-T-Cabling-Systems/

What’s in a margin?

Structured cabling systems are built from the component up and each level has its own small margin.The channel limits include a small margin over the minimum transmission requirements needed to support the highest protocol supported by the relevant category.

The components margins are set based on three sets of inputs:1. Achievable values as agreed between the component manufacturers

represented in the standard committee. 2. The final channel limits needed to support the protocol in question.

(These are normally negotiated between the cabling and protocol committees).

3. Estimated degrading of the transmission properties during installation and termination.

1 & 2 are set – but 3 is very difficult to predict, mainly when installation instructions & standards are ignored – which often happens.

Cable margins

Compared to the other channel components, the horizontal cable:

• Has a major effect on the channel performance.• Can be easily abused and damaged during installation & termination.• Can be made with the largest margins over the standard limits.

(backward compatible connecting hardware margins are limited by the RJ45 design)

Conclusion: The horizontal cable should have the largest margins possible.

While the insertion loss obtainable margins are limited due to the conductor size, RL, NEXT and FEXT can be substantially improved merely by perfecting the cable design and using innovative production methods and machines – and this is exactly what was done by AT&T Cabling Systems.

Examples are shown in the following slides.

Category 6 Unshielded Cable

Other Brands AT&T Cabling systems

~2dB NEXT margin ~15dB NEXT margin

~0dB RL margin ~10dB RL margin

Category 6A Shielded Cable

Other Brands AT&T Cabling systems

~4dB NEXT margin ~30-40dB NEXT margin

~2dB RL margin ~10dB RL margin

A separate presentation explaining the AT&T CAT 6A unshielded solution is available

Category 6A Channels (Lab tests)4 Connector 15m Channel 4 Connector 100m Channel

5dB NEXT margin 9dB NEXT margin2 Connector 8m Channel 2 Connector 100m Channel

7dB NEXT margin 10dB NEXT margin

Category 6A Typical Site Performance

Installing and testing links & channels in lab conditions may be nice for demonstrations and marketing purposes but the real performance of high-quality cabling systems is becoming evident in real-life large scale installations, where, in many cases, the cables are exposed to mechanical abuse, the termination is done in confined areas with low visibility and time = money.

The following statistics is taken from a real site:

Number of channels with NEXT margin < 2dB = 9 (0.2%)Number of channels with NEXT margin < 5dB = 50 (1.1%)Number of channels with NEXT margin > 10dB = 861 (20%)ALL low-NEXT channels were shorter than 10m.

CAT 6A short cords, links & channels NEXT may be affected by reflected FEXT .

Short Cords, Links & Channels Issues

N FNEXT FEXT

Original Signal1

21

2A B

D

2-pairs example of reflected FEXT generating additional NEXT:A. The signal sent from N1 to F1 generates normal NEXT in N2.B. The signal sent from N1 to F1 is reflected from F1 and this reflection

generates crosstalk, measured as additional NEXT in N2.C. The signal sent from N1 to F1 generates normal FEXT in F2.D. The FEXT signal generated in F2 is reflected from F2 and this

reflection generates additional crosstalk, measured as additional NEXT in N2.

In long links all these reflections are attenuated and become insignificant.

C

Evidently: When 4 pairs are present the reflections pattern becomes much more complex.

Category 6A Typical Site Performance (contd.)As explained in our installation seminars, Category 6A channels and links are extremely sensitive to short distances between connectors (mainly due to reflected FEXT).This effect can be clearly seen in the NEXT margins obtained in the short channels installed in this site.TIA-568-C. 2 recommends PL > 10m (ISO/IEC 11801: PL > 15m) but in this site there were 40 channels shorter than 6m (so the PLs were probably 4m or even shorter) yet only 9 had NEXT margin 2dB and none failed.

The high NEXT margins of our components enable our customers to bend the rules without being punished.

Category 6A Typical Site Performance (contd.)When the channels are longer the reflected NEXT is negligible and the true performance of the cabling components is revealed:

Category 6A Typical Site Performance (contd.)

50m Real Life Channel – 12dB NEXT Margin

50m Real Life Channel – 11dB RL Margin

Category 6A Typical Site Performance (contd.)The outstanding performance of AT&T cabling components is not a matter of luck.Substantial efforts were invested in order to design our cables and connecting hardware to be robust yet user friendly, taking into account all unavoidable abuse and errors done in real-life installations, with minimum effect on the links & channels performance.

Correct Channel TestingA new feature in Fluke DSX-5000 enables testing the balance of the channels in the field.This was impossible until now, so the cabling standards allow verifying conformance based on lab testing but evidently, such testing has very little significance. High balance is critical for high-frequency applications such as 10GBASE-T.Low-balance may adversely affect the channel performance even if all other parameters are fine so it is important to insist on balance testing of every channel in the field, together with all other transmission parameters.

TCL of high-quality channelTested according to TIA-568-C.2

ISO/IEC 11801 TCL limits go only up to 250MHzThis will hide TCL failures in higher frequencies

Pass ISO/IEC 11801 Limits

Fail TIA-568-C Limits

Correct Channel Testing (contd.)It should be also noted that when short links and channels are tested according to ISO/IEC 11801, the NEXT limit are applied only at the HF region or not applied at all.

ISO/IEC 11801 NEXT – 10.5 m Class EA PLLimit is applied only from 300MHz

TIA-568 NEXT – 10.5 m CAT6A PLLimit is applied in the entire frequency range

ISO/IEC 11801 NEXT – 6 m Class EA PLLimit is not applied at all

TIA-568 NEXT – 10.5 m CAT6A PLLimit is applied in the entire frequency range

Warranty

The systematic approach of AT&T Cabling Systems, starting from the basic design and concept up to the final testing and QA methods enables us to provide the AT&T Millennium™ Lifetime Warranty to each and every link & channels conforming to the site installation manual found at http://cabling.att.com/includes/AT&T_Site_Registration_Manual.pdfThe warranty details can be found athttp://cabling.att.com/includes/AT&T_Millenium_Lifetime_Warranty_032113.pdfIn addition, an exceptional out-of-the-box component warranty is provided according to the details found athttp://cabling.att.com/includes/AT&T_Cabling_Component-Warranty.pdf

Proper selection of cables flame test

Part 2

Safety Issues

Overview

The role of cables in fire safety is complex.The relative qty of cables in any building is usually small, but they have some distinct features which affect their ability to cause and sustain fire:• They usually contain organic combustible materials.• They are usually routed throughout the building and may

convey the flames from one point to another.• They may be installed in vertical shafts, which may act as air-

pumps (chimney effect) in case of fire.• They may ignite in case of short circuit.• They may release toxic & corrosive fumes when burning.

For these reasons it is critically important to select the correct cable for the installation type used.

IEC 60332-1 vs IEC 60332-3

IEC 60332-1 is used for testing single cables which are installed alone (e.g. one cable in a tray or on a ladder).The test apparatus looks like this:

Obviously, this test is not suitable for real-life cabling systems.

mm units

IEC 60332-3 is used for testing cables installed in real-life sites, where tenth or even hundreds of cables are packed together.

Typical installation in a large office building.Large bundles of cables are installed in close proximity.

IEC 60332-3 Test Setup

The test is conducted in a 4-meter high chamber and the burners flame is boosted by 5000 liter air per minute.This test imitates the conditions where large bundles of cables are burning.

Click icon to add picture

IEC 60332-3 Real-life images - AT&T Testing facility

IEC 60332-1 vs IEC 60332-3:Conclusions

As shown, IEC 60332-1 cannot predict the burning behavior of LAN cables in real cabling systems – and it is not designed for it.IEC 60332-3 is specifically designed for this purpose, but unfortunately over 95% of the LAN cables installed do not conform to it.This means that most cables installed in bundles and in large sites are a “ticking bomb”, waiting to explode.In some cases it is done because of the price difference – but in some cases it is done because the consultants and the network designers don’t know the difference.

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Summary

AT&T Authorized Licensee. AT&T, the AT&T Globe Design and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies.

When selecting cables for installation in large sites with many ports, the cables must be LS0H and complaint with the relevant section of IEC 60332-3.

LAN cables may become a safety hazard when installed in large bundles.Most cables installed are complaint only with IEC 60332-1, which is not adequate for large sites.

AT&T Cabling Systems has CAT 6 (shielded and unshielded), CAT 6A, CAT 7 & CAT7A ETL Verified LS0H horizontal cables which fully conform to IEC 60332-3-24 & 25. AT&T Cabling Systems S/FTP cables are available in constructions conforming to EU Construction Products Regulation (CPR) Type B2ca S1 d0.

Final words

AT&T Cabling Systems provides an extensive portfolio of the highest-quality cabling products, backed by unparalleled QA systems and warranties, supported by the rigorous inspection and control of the strongest communications brand in the world.

Our extensive network of EMEA distributors are geared to provide technical support and custom-made innovative solutions to any cabling challenge.

AT&T Authorized Licensee. AT&T, the AT&T Globe Design and all other AT&T marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. Issue 1.0 3/06/2013

AT&T Cabling Systems

Thank you.

Rev. 5 – 26 NOV 2014