August 12, 2010So, you didn't think the copper cabling industry was just going to capitulate in the face of 40- and 100-Gigabit Ethernet, did you?
Recognizing that a path towards tomorrow's speeds is essential to selling product today, copper cabling makers are laying plans to propose work on 40GBase-T. The current fly in the ointment is that tranmitting 40 Gbps an appreciable distance over copper would require use of Category 7a twisted pair -- a cabling category not yet recognized by U.S. standards bodies. Sources tell me that this initial step will probably delay the 40GBase-T drum beats until next year.
The hope is that 40GBase-T will support 40-Gigabit Ethernet transmission over 100 m. The advent of such a specification (once products based on it reach affordability, anyway) would certainly reduce demand for fiber-based 40-Gigabit Ethernet products. However, not all the news would be bad for the fiber industry, say the sources -- aggregating 40GBase-T traffic would require fiber plant.
And, no, it doesn't appear that 100GBase-T would be just around the corner.
If you're interested in the role of 40 Gigabit Ethernet in optical networks, I have two pieces of advice for you:
