Executive Summary The Move Toward Gigabit LANs Importance of Gigabit Over Copper Deployment Considerations Conclusion

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Executive Summary

Network managers are turning to Gigabit Ethernet technology to relieve bottlenecks at server connections, switch stacks, and other points of aggregation from workgroups into the data center. Gigabit Ethernet has been standardized for fiber optic cable since 1998, but until recently was not standardized for Category 5 copper cable, the most widely used cabling medium within buildings. In the past, network managers wanting to go to Gigabit speeds were often faced with re-wiring their buildings with fiber cable.

Today, with approval of the 1000BASE-T standard for Gigabit Ethernet over copper, Gigabit speeds can be widely deployed at less expense using standard Category 5 cabling. This paper provides information about 1000BASE-T and gives a variety of deployment examples. At the end of this paper, you'll find additional resources for further investigation of Gigabit Ethernet over copper.