Running Head: Justification Report - Part 2 1

Justification Report-Part 2 6

1. The cost differential of cat5e wire to cat6 wire is not terribly great. However, the cost differential between cat5e and cat6 everything else is pretty significant. Just as an example, a cat6 keystone jack from Leviton is about three times more expensive than a cat5e. Patch panels are way more expensive in cat 6.

Warranty

Alternative A

1. Cat 5e cabling and its specifications are addressed through new TIA and ISO/IEC addendums or technical service bulletins. It has been available since January of 2003, though some vendors and others have announced later products.

2. CAT-5e is formally called ANSI/TIA/EIA 568A-5 or simply Cat-5e (the e stands for 'enhanced'). CAT-5e is completely backward compatible with current CAT-5 equipment. The enhanced electrical performance of CAT-5e ensures that the cable will support applications that require additional bandwidth, such as gigabit Ethernet or analog.

Alternative B

1. For Cat 6 there are three levels. General Purpose: UL1581; Riser: UL1666; and Plenum UL910. These numbers are all fire and safety rated.

2. Basic Product Warranty + 15-Year Performance Warranty. This warranty is the standard product warranty that end users receive when they purchase a Leviton Voice and Data product through retail, distribution, or direct.

Compatibility

Alternative A

3. Cat 5e is the most common kind of cable you’ll find being sold today, and is very much adequate for general use in the home. For gigabit speeds, all four pairs in the cable are used.

4. CAT5E cable is most commonly used today, as it's fast and economical. Visibly, you will notice a difference between CAT5E and CAT6 because CAT6 has a cross-shaped plastic separator in the middle, separating each twisted pair for reduced interference.

Alternative B

1. If you were building a new house and wanted something to connect each floor together with, perhaps consider Cat 6 for the sake of future-proofing, but otherwise don’t go out of your way to buy Cat 6 cabling. It is completely compatible with existing Cat 5e and Cat 5 devices.

2. Upgrading your network from Cat 5 or Cat 5e to Cat 6 is not a problem since Cat 6 provides backwards compatibility, meaning all the protocols, hardware, etc. will work with Cat 6.

Durability

Alternative A

5. Cat 6 Minimum Recommended Installation Temperature: 5°C (40°F) • Temperature Rating: 60°C (140°F) Transmission Characteristics • Values up to 300 MHz are minimum guaranteed values

6. Cat 6 Conductors: 23 AWG solid copper • Insulation: - Plenum: Low Smoke Flame Retardant thermoplastic (FEP) - Riser and LSZH: Polyolefin (PE)

Alternative B

3. Cat 5e there are two types of Plenums: Ceiling Cavity Plenum and Raised Floor Plenum. These are spaces that handle non-ducted air return back to the HVAC system. Cables in these spaces are rated for low flame-spread and low-smoke generation.

4. CAT 5e Cable also has improved durability, due to improvements in the quality and thickness of the PVC protective jacket. It is more than suitable for most data cabling requirements.

Findings and Analysis

Although Alternatives A and B were quite attractive, because of the close comparison in speed, we chose to go with Cat5e because of the network, the speed is adequate enough for transmission. For costs, alternative A seemed to be more attractive therefore chose to go with Cat 6 even though it was a little bit more expensive than Cat5e, we believe that this will benefit us more in the future for expansion. Alternative B was more of what we were looking being that the warranty for Cat5e was 10 years and Cat 6 had a 15 year warranty. Ultimately we were interested in having low noise and less interference, so Alternative A seemed to be the best choice because visibly, you will notice a difference between CAT5E and CAT6 because CAT6 has a cross-shaped plastic separator in the middle, separating each twisted pair for reduced interference. Alternative A was the clear choice because we were looking for fire retardant cable and Alternative A was Insulation: Plenum: Low Smoke Flame Retardant thermoplastic (FEP) - Riser and LSZH: Polyolefin (PE) had all the characteristics we were looking for.

References

http://www.cepro.com/article/should_you_use_cat_5e_or_cat_6_wire/

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html#sthash.5kXCnKeT.dpuf

For a more graphic depiction of findings and analysis, see the grid below.

Evaluation of Alternatives

1. The cost differential of cat5e wire to cat6 wire is not terribly great. However, the cost differential between cat5e and cat6 everything else is pretty significant. Just as an example, a cat6 keystone jack from Leviton is about three times more expensive than a cat5e. Patch panels are way more expensive in cat 6.

Warranty

Alternative A

1. This cabling and its specifications are addressed through new TIA and ISO/IEC addendums or technical service bulletins. It has been available since January of 2003, though some vendors and others have announced later products.

1. CAT-5e is formally called ANSI/TIA/EIA 568A-5 or simply Cat-5e (the e stands for 'enhanced'). CAT-5e is completely backward compatible with current CAT-5 equipment. The enhanced electrical performance of CAT-5e ensures that the cable will support applications that require additional bandwidth, such as gigabit Ethernet or analog.

Alternative B

1. There are three levels. General Purpose: UL1581; Riser: UL1666; and Plenum UL910. These numbers are all fire and safety rated.

1. Basic Product Warranty + 15-Year Performance Warranty. This warranty is the standard product warranty that end users receive when they purchase a Leviton Voice and Data product through retail, distribution, or direct.

Compatibility

Alternative A

1. Cat 5e is the most common kind of cable you’ll find being sold today, and is very much adequate for general use in the home. For gigabit speeds, all four pairs in the cable are used.

1. If you were building a new house and wanted something to connect each floor together with, perhaps consider Cat 6 for the sake of future-proofing, but otherwise don’t go out of your way to buy Cat 6 cabling. It is completely compatible with existing Cat 5e and Cat 5 devices.

Alternative B

0. Upgrading your network from Cat 5 or Cat 5e to Cat 6 is not a problem since Cat 6 provides backwards compatibility, meaning all the protocols, hardware, etc. will work with Cat 6.

1. CAT5E cable is most commonly used today, as it's fast and economical. Visibly, you will notice a difference between CAT5E and CAT6 because CAT6 has a cross-shaped plastic separator in the middle, separating each twisted pair for reduced interference.

0.

Durability

Alternative A

1. Cat 6 Minimum Recommended Installation Temperature: 5°C (40°F) • Temperature Rating: 60°C (140°F) Transmission Characteristics • Values up to 300 MHz are minimum guaranteed values

1. Conductors: 23 AWG solid copper • Insulation: - Plenum: Low Smoke Flame Retardant thermoplastic (FEP) - Riser and LSZH: Polyolefin (PE).

Alternative B

1. 4 Pair UTP, 200MHz Category 5e, Vertical Tray Rated, 24 AWG Solid Bare Copper, Polyolefin Insulation, PVC Jacket, Rip Cord, Sequential Marking at Two Foot Intervals

1. CAT 5e Cable also has improved durability, due to improvements in the quality and thickness of the PVC protective jacket. It is more than suitable for most data cabling requirements.

Unless you have specific needs, UTP Cat5e cable is the best solution for most of your networking needs. Not only is it reliable, fast, and easy to work with, it’s also the cheapest LAN cable on the market.

Because of its improved transmission performance and superior immunity from external noise, systems operating over category 6 cabling will have fewer errors vs. category 5e for current applications. This means fewer re-transmissions of lost or corrupted data packets under certain conditions, which translates into higher reliability for category 6 networks compared to category 5e networks. Analyst predictions and independent polls indicate that 80 to 90 percent of all new installations will be cabled with category 6. The fact that category 6 link and channel requirements are backward compatible to category 5e makes it very easy for customers to choose category 6 and supersede category 5e in their networks. Applications that worked over category 5e will work over category 6. http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html#sthash.5kXCnKeT.dpuf