Raritan MasterConsole Z, User Manual, Page: 31 / 34

A
PPENDIX
D: FAQ
S
25
UTP Cabling FAQs
Cat5 / Cat5e / Cat6 Cabling FAQ
Q
UESTION
: A
NSWER
:
What UTP cable does
Raritan recommend for use
with Paragon, Paragon
Ready, MasterConsole II,
and Cat5 Reach products? Raritan certifies the following Category 5e UTP and Category 6
UTP cable products for use with its family of industry-leading data
center solutions
Use of non-certified cabling can and will result in video and data
degradations that users may find unsatisfactory. Certified Raritan
cable products listed above are widely available and competitively
priced. When using certified cable, users can transmit video signals
at distances up to 700 feet at 1024x768 @75Hz; and up to 500 feet
at 1600x1200 @75Hz.
Can I use plain Cat 5
cable, instead of Cat 5e? Yes, however, you may not get the same performance as you would
with Raritan certified Category 5e UTP or Category 6 UTP cables.
Standard Category 5 UTP cable may not have the necessary
characteristics for transmitting high-quality video over long
distances.
Can I use standard
Ethernet (10BASE-T)
cable? No. Standard Ethernet cable does not have the necessary bandwidth
characteristics for transmitting high-quality video over long
distances.
Can I use non-certified Cat
5e cable? Yes, however, you may not get the same performance as you would
with Raritan certified Category 5e UTP or Category 6 UTP cables.
Using non-certified Category 5e UTP cable with Raritan products
results in degraded video performance ranging from mildly
irritating to severely unusable.
The only occasion when a non-certified cable may be used with
Raritan products without negative effects on system usability is
when the total cable distance between any user console and any
connected device is less than 300 feet.
Because cable products certified by Raritan do not cost more than
competing cable offerings, Raritan strongly recommends that users
utilize Raritan certified cables for maximum performance with
Raritan product applications.
Can I use Cat 6 cable? Yes. Currently only one Category 6 UTP cable product is Raritan
certified for use with Raritan products. Raritan continues to test
new Category 6 UTP cabling products as they are released to the
market. However, at the present time, no Category 6 standard
currently exists; all products currently available in the marketplace
claiming to be Category 6 UTP cable actually conform to a
proposed standard, not an established one. As a result, great
variation in cable types and performance exist.
What happens if I do not
use Raritan certified cable? Cable products that are not specifically certified by Raritan will
likely cause your video to look blurry; in particular if the video
signal is of high-resolution, or if the video signal must be
transmitted over long distances. Furthermore, LCD monitors can
become unusable