News | January 19, 2000

BICSI Winter 2000: Graybar Intros VIP 2000

Source: Graybar
By: John Spofford, Managing Editor, Premises Networks Online

Graybar this week announced the second phase of its Verified Independently for Performance (VIP) program—VIP 2000—which the company says will verify the performance of cabling systems with more headroom and useable bandwidth than the TIA/EIA Category 6 draft proposal. Originally unveiled at the BISCI Fall Conference (August 23-26, 1999; Reno NV), Graybar's VIP program is a verification program for the full channel—defined to include patch cords, RJ45 wall jacks, horizontal cabling, punch down blocks, and patch panels ports.

Based on third-party testing
The VIP testing regimen is based on random product samplings from Graybar's 260 U.S. locations. Products have been tested to industry standards and national product performance and safety standards by the ITS/ETL Wire and Cable laboratory in Cortland, N.Y. Testing also is repeated on a quarterly basis, with equipment chosen from Graybar locations on an unannounced and random schedule. The ITS/ETL lab is capable of testing out to 1.3 GHz, exceeding the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) requirement for testing to 100 MHz for Gigabit Ethernet connections.

With this weeks announcement, the VIP program offers two testing options for verified cabling systems:

• The original VIP 1000 classification measurements, made available last year, are based on the proposed TIA/EIA Category 5e channel specification. In addition, VIP1000 tests for improved transmission characteristics beyond the Cat 5E spec to provide more headroom and more bandwidth as insurance towards future applications.

• The announced VIP 2000 classification is designed for long-term tenants and higher speed networks, the company said. By extending the frequency of positive Power Sum Attenuation to Cross Talk Ratio (PS-ACR), and also requiring improvements to Return Loss, cabling systems verified to be VIP 2000 compliant will offer additional headroom beyond the proposed Category 6 specifications, including 20 dB PS-ACR at 100 MHz and a positive PS-ACR reading at 250 MHz.

For information contact 800-GRAYBAR, or visit the Graybar Storefront here at Premises Networks.com