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Networking

1.4mm Thick Gigabit Ethernet Cable 235

Posted by CmdrTaco from the only-geeks-care-about-this-crap dept.
TheIonix writes "Flat network cables aren't anything new, but I'm pretty sure ones like this are. Japanese accessory king Elecom today announced the "LD-VAPF/SV05" network cabling, coming in at 1.4mm thick." Also here's their press release if you can read Japanese.
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1.4mm Thick Gigabit Ethernet Cable More

1.4mm Thick Gigabit Ethernet Cable

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  • Flatwire (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jjeff1 ( 636051 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:01AM (#11942678)
    I'm not sure if it's out yet or not, but Flatwire [decorp.com] has talked about this at least a year ago.

    • Re:Flatwire (Score:3, Informative)

      by Jjeff1 ( 636051 )
      Shame on me for responding to my own post, but I wanted to note that DeCorp also makes that flatwire product for audio, video and electrical wiring as well.

    • Re:Flatwire (Score:5, Informative)

      by megaversal ( 229407 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:41AM (#11942970)
      Last year (during summer) when I was in Japan, I bought a bunch of Elecom cables (CAT6 though, but the same thin design). They also sold CAT5 (10/100) cable at the same store I got my CAT6, so I'm assuming the real "news" is that they now have gigabit-capable CAT5 cable in the thin variety, not that flat cable is something new, or that even gigabit varieties of flat cable are new.
    • I'm curious how this performs in comparison to traditional twisted-pair cable.

      The wavy lines in the back of the photo look like "twisted pair" in two dimensions, but it seems like that would only be effective against EMF coming from either side, whereas traditional twisted-pair is effective against EMF coming from all directions.

      But maybe it's good enough-- not everyone needs 100% throughput, especially in a home environment.
      • I haven't heavily tested my cable (Elecom flat CAT6), but in normal use, I get the same speeds as my friends who have regular gigabit cables on a cheap D-Link gigabit switch (upwards of 12MB/s -- they have Powerbooks, I have a Gateway; all built-in NICs).

  • Translated Page (Score:5, Informative)

    by bigtallmofo ( 695287 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:02AM (#11942683)
    Google Translation [google.com] of press release.

  • RE: Coolness... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by fshalor ( 133678 ) <fshalor@com c a st.net> on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:02AM (#11942687) Homepage Journal
    Can't wait to see them bringing down the ceilings in old campus buildings. (We always run stuff in the plenum. :) 0 )

    I'm still not sure I'm okay with the potential for interfreaence in these... it's just too thin... I'd love to see how many u can stack on top of one another before they break.
    • You won't have to worry about the dust. You can't use this anyway.

      The National Electrical Code requires that wiring in a plenum has a special teflon cladding that won't burn and fill the ducts with smoke in the case of a fire. I didn't see this mentioned in the article...

      • Re: Coolness... (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Leebert ( 1694 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @11:45AM (#11944025)
        The National Electrical Code requires that wiring in a plenum has a special teflon cladding that won't burn

        PVC itself is fairly fire retardant, but it releases Hydrogen Chloride when heat is applied to it. Plenum rated cable burns, but it doesn't release HCl when it does so, and thus is required to be used in environments where air will be circulated.
      • No... Teflon is not the substance you're looking for.

        Teflon is used for low-capacitance ratings, not necessarily for plenum cable.

        Plenum cable is expensive, though. CAT5e is about $70/1000ft. Plenum CAT5e is $170/1000ft. And if you're wondering how to tell the difference just by looking at the jacket, well, you'll see some markings on it... plenum jacketting says "CMP" or "CL2P" or "CL3P", while non-plenum jackets say "CMR" or "CL2R" or "CL3R". And if you see one that says "FMP" or the like, that's fire-a

  • Useful (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DarkSarin ( 651985 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:02AM (#11942688) Homepage Journal
    If the pics are accurate, and you can really shut the window (sorry I don't read Japanese), then this is some cool stuff. I can see it being used to hide cabling and make it less obtrusive.

    Other than that, they had better be selling it for close to normal cable prices, or I can't think of anyone who would buy very much of it.

  • All fine and good (Score:5, Funny)

    by PDA_Boy ( 821746 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:03AM (#11942691)
    But surely a large file will not fit through such a small cable? You'd need to hammer them down first, which is an unwanted chore. Easier than making them small enough to transmit wirelessly, I guess.

  • Babelfish? (Score:1, Informative)

    by aendeuryu ( 844048 )
    Babelfish translation... [altavista.com]

  • Optical Fiber (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kc0re ( 739168 )
    I guess I don't understand what's the point in this article other than "informational". We have optical fiber cable in my office, it can't be any thicker than about 2 mm's.

    I really appreciate the fact that people are generating new technologies, to make things thinner, however, this is where stuff should be going, not groundbreaking news.

    • Re:Optical Fiber (Score:5, Informative)

      by Minupla ( 62455 ) <minupla@gmailCHICAGO.com minus city> on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:16AM (#11942793) Homepage Journal
      It's interesting because fiber is pretty damned sensitive to things like going around corners and being run over with office chairs and a whole lot of other things can make it a challenge to deploy to the desktop. That's why gig over cat 5e is way more popular these days then over fibre. Outside of the machine room fibre isn't a popular solution. And definatly if you're going to run it around window tracks or under carpet with roller chairs, you don't want to use fib...

      Min
      • And definatly if you're going to run it around window tracks or under carpet with roller chairs, you don't want to use fib...

        Min

        The handwritten signiture kind of defeated that joke. If he was cut off, he wouldn't have bothered writing "..." and "Min", would he? Oh well, maybe he was dictating.

    • #1. Slashdot isnt just reserved for groundbreaking news.

      #2. This is actually kinda cool - I'd like to see the interference before I'd act, but Id much rather run a flat cable under some carpet at our office than string through the celing AGAIN....

      #3. I'd really like to see your fiber cable do the 90 degree bends like in that picture. Go ahead, we'll wait for you to replace the expensive broken cable to post your response...

    • Well because a very nice copper router and cabling will cost you next to nothing compaired to fiber.

      We run fiber at work, but it's only to connect out lying buildings for distance and security, and for some of the longer runs inside. Inside on the short runs you can find anything from coax (they won't throw nothing away, it's insane) to 1000bT.

      Why not run over copper, it's fast it's cheap and until it exhausts it's limits or fiber becomes a whole lot cheaper and easier to work with then it will still b

    • Since when can you run your average piece of fiber cable through a sliding door, then still be able to close the door and not damage the cable? Same goes for windows, and many other things.

      Not all of us are able to have the perfect setup when it comes to cabling/wiring.

  • The most important problem... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jimpqfly ( 790794 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:09AM (#11942735) Homepage Journal
    ... is not thickness, it's the cable ITSELF I think... I'd rather see some important research on WIFI than this kind of invention...
    • While WIFI would be good to expand on, some of us must use cable no matter what comes out. I work in a building where we can't have any wireless device, cell phones, pda, pages, tape recorders, etc... So cable like this can come in handy, especially when we are so limited.
    • Luckily for you, then, that we can do research on more then one field/topic at any given point and time so we have multiple technologies and choices.
    • I'd rather see some important research on WIFI than this kind of invention...

      ME TOO

      Instead of a cable that runs between two pieces of electronic equipment that will never move relative to each other, requires little power to propagate a signal, has nearly unlimited bandwidth potential, and is relatively difficult to snoop, let's all switch over to wireless! I mean, it only takes more power, is more susceptible to snooping, and resides in a finite frequency spectrum which is getting more crowded by the d

  • Translation of press release (Score:5, Funny)

    by sczimme ( 603413 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:11AM (#11942762)

    "We are disrespectful to cable of girth. Can you see that we are serious? Join me or die. Can you do any less? For special lucky data, use Elecom LD-VAPF/SV05 network cabling."

  • Wow! (Score:4, Funny)

    by RicochetRita ( 581914 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:17AM (#11942802) Homepage
    Now I'll be able to cram even more cables between rack'd components! Oh happy day!

    R3

  • Has existed for some time in TV applications (Score:4, Insightful)

    by elgatozorbas ( 783538 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @09:21AM (#11942840)
    Probably the purpose of this cable is to pass SHORT narrow sections, like the window shown. This also exists for TV applications e.g. to bring your satellite signal (dish on the roof) inside.

    I do not read Japanese, but can imagine

    1) this cable is rather expensive
    2) the loses/reflections are higher than for normal cable

    This is speculation, of course, but probably you don't want to make your entire home network from these cables...

  • I like to see wired vs. wireless networking duking it out. Wireless has increased security and range lately. But then Wired has gigabit! Who will be the winner! Stay tuned.
  • Did anyone else read the subject and think "Thick Ethernet? What do we want to bring that back for?"
  • Here's a link [altavista.com] to the page translated from French to German, to include some of our European members that too often get overlooked.
  • I use fiber optic gigabit. Its far thiner then the stuff they're talking about.

    • Re:Glass is thiner. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I use fiber optic gigabit. Its far thiner then the stuff they're talking about.

      We are so proud of you. Now go roll over your fiber optic cable with a chair. Now bend it around corners. What? It doesn't work anymore?

  • The cables are supposedly "reinforced" with Aluminum. It's possible that this means that there is a thin layer of aluminum sandwiching the wiring, or backing the insulation. This would effectively shield the cables from outside interference, if this is a concern.

    As for crosstalk, though I could most certainly be wrong here, if no two adjacent wires carry a single, the other wires will effectively diminish crosstalk (think about 80-pin ATA-66/100/133 cables.)

    I'm no expert on RF, but I'd suspect that eith

  • Beware - only Cat 5 (Score:2, Insightful)

    by fedders ( 557086 )
    I'm in the category cable industry and would be weary of using this cable for Gigabit Ethernet. The release only mentions that the cable is rated at Cat 5 (Not Cat 5e) which means it is only good for speeds up to 100 Mb/s. You need a true (verified) Cat 5e cable to run 1000 Mb/s (Gigabit) ethernet.

    That said, this would be find for most home networks.
    • Seriously- where do you get this? The spec for gigabit ethernet (check it for yourself- Clause 40- you can get it for free from the IEEE website) has no mention of "Cat 5e" at all- it specifically states that gigabit ethernet must: Support operation over 100 meters of Category 5 balanced cabling as defined in 40.7 - in 40.7 they state that the bandwidth of the signal is approximately 80 MHz- about the same as 100 Mbit, except that all four pairs are used for transmit and recieve.
    • "...and would be weary of using this cable for Gigabit Ethernet.

      I don't see why this cable should tire you out any more than any other kind but I can see where you might be wary of it.

  • DVI? (Score:2)

    by Coppit ( 2441 )
    What I want is a thin DVI cable with a detactable connector. My stinkin' contractor put a conduit in for me, but it's 1" in diameter and has a 90 degree bend. :(

  • Where you can get these cables (Score:4, Informative)

    by Shinzaburo ( 416221 ) on Tuesday March 15, 2005 @01:02PM (#11944914) Homepage
    Just in case you are wondering where you can get these cables, they should be available for pre-order from our site within 24 hours:

    http://shinza.com/ [shinza.com]

    Availability is expected within 3-4 weeks.

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