Raritan Z-SERIES -, User Manual

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Appendix A: UTP Cabling FAQs 13
Appendix A: UTP Cabling FAQs
Cat5 / Cat5e / Cat6 Cabling FAQ
Question: Answer:
What UTP cable does Raritan
recommend for use with
Paragon

, Paragon Ready
TM
,
and Cat5 Reach TM 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:
Certified Cables for Use with Raritan Products
Category 5e UTP Cables: Belden DataTwist 350 UTP #1700A Solid
Belden DataTwist 350 patch #1752A Stranded
Category 6 UTP Cables: Belden MediaTwist #1872A Solid
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 1,000 feet at 1024x768 @75Hz;
and up to 600 feet at 1600x1200 @75Hz.
Note that Raritan does not have any marketing relationship with Belden, nor does Raritan receive
any financial incentive for recommending Belden products.
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