The physical cabling standards upon which Ethernet is transmitted is governed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). The standards have been reflected and added to in European standards, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) authority documents.

Category 5 (was included in ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B for informative purposes only)

Category 5 was the most common cable installed, until later installations began to use an enhanced version. It may still be the cable type most in use because it was the cable of choice during the huge infrastructure boom of the 1990s. It was designed to support frequencies of up to 100MHz. Applications include 100Base-TX, FDDI over copper, 155Mbps ATM over UTP, and, thanks to sophisticated encoding techniques, 1000Base-T Ethernet. To support 1000Base-T applications, the installed cabling system had to pass performance tests specified by TSB-95 (a Telecommunications Systems Bulletin issued in support of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A, which defines additional test parameters). It is no longer a recognized cable type per the ANSI/TIA-568-C standard, but for historical reference purposes, Category 5 requirements, including those taken from TSB-95, are specified in ANSI/TIA-568-C.2.

Category 5e (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C)

Category 5e (enhanced Category 5) was introduced with the TIA/EIA-568-A-5 addendum of the cabling standard. Even though it has the same rated bandwidth as Category 5, that is, 100MHz, additional performance criteria and a tighter transmission test requirement make it more suitable for high-speed applications such as Gigabit Ethernet. Applications are the same as those for Category 5 cabling. It is now the minimum recognized cable category for data transmission in ANSI/TIA-568-C.

Category 6 (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C)

Category 6 cabling was officially recognized with the publication of an addition to ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B in June 2002. In addition to more stringent performance requirements as compared to Category 5e, it extends the usable bandwidth to 250MHz. Its intended use is for Gigabit Ethernet and other future high-speed transmission rates. Successful application of Category 6 cabling requires closely matched components in all parts of the transmission channel, that is, patch cords, connectors, and cable.

Category 6A or Augmented Category 6 (recognized cable type in ANSI/TIA-568-C)

Category 6A cabling was officially recognized with the publication of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10 in February 2008. In addition to more stringent performance requirements as compared to Category 6, it extends the usable bandwidth to 500MHz. Its intended use is for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Like Category 6, successful application of Category 6A cabling requires closely matched components in all parts of the transmission channel, that is, patch cords, connectors, and cable.

Category 7 (recognized cable type in ISO 11801)

Category 7 is an ISO/IEC category suitable for transmission frequencies up to 1GHz. It is widely used in Europe and is gaining some popularity in the United States. It is not presently recognized in ANSI/TIA-568-C.

All warranties are not the same - here at Hughes Electronics we recognise that Communication Systems are crucial to success. We all depend upon quality communications and information dissemination.

A product or system is only good if it's working so we not only guarantee end-to-end component level performance of the entire channel but also in the event of failure we guarantee a 24 hour response through our approved systems partner.

Hughes Electronics' 25 years experience in technical product design and manufacture right through to LAN/WAN design and implementation in the most demanding of applications and building architectures like listed buildings and marine environments, coupled with a 24 hour response make us the partner of choice for critical applications.

The vast experience and technological mastery in a condensed, vertical environment means that technical information and problem solving here at Hughes Electronics is instant.

The speed of our service, broad portfolio of guaranteed products and comprehensive support empowers communications infrastructures to facilitate better and faster business.

Our cutting edge solutions guarantee:

• Performance
• Reliability
• Value for money

Because we understand different cabling technologies and building infrastructures, our warranties can cover the whole end to end solution.

Whilst many warranties are meaningless, we recognise that a warranty is only of benefit if it actually provides something of value to the end user - we believe a Hughes Electronics is a warranty worth having.

Every care is taken with each one of our products to ensure that it matches our clients' expectations and needs. In the event that any one of our products does not meet your expectations through any fault of Hughes Electronics, client centric resolutions are immediate and absolute.

Our Data system Warranty

Our data cable and connectors are tested in house at component level, and guaranteed to meet or exceed EIA/TIA and ISO specifications for TIA/EIA cat5e, cat6, cat6a and ISO11801 Ed.2 so called cat7.

We also offer a systems design, installation and warranty service. All voice and data systems are installed by our in house team or by a Hughes Electronics trained and accredited installer and backed by our guaranteed 24 hour response 15 years performance warranty.

Our Guaranteed Desktop Data Warranty

We also provide specific data cabling installation training and accreditation and accreditation for desktop data solution involving coalition unit where X connects must be deployed and performance criteria more difficult to achieve. Coalition unit manufacturers and office desk manufacturers who deploy consolidated desktop data intended for integration into fixed LAN channels may offer clients a guaranteed channel compliant solution that fits seamlessly with the residual LAN. We provide 15 years performance warranty on desktop data X connects from desktop to LAN when supplied and fitted by one of our fully trained accredited partners, and where required a residual LAN "health check" and channel performance guarantee.

Bespoke industrial and telecommunications cabling systems are warranted according to their pre-agreed performance, environmental and lifecycle criteria. Our G703 balun components for the telecoms market are in house tested and guaranteed up to E3 performance levels.