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1.4mm Thick Gigabit Ethernet Cable

Posted by ryuzaki0 on 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.

12 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. RE: Coolness... by fshalor · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

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  2. Optical Fiber by kc0re · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  3. The most important problem... by Jimpqfly · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... is not thickness, it's the cable ITSELF I think... I'd rather see some important research on WIFI than this kind of invention...

  4. Re:Useful by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Sharp bends in your cable (closing a window on it) will degrade your throughput.

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  5. Re:Shielding? by Broiler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    OK first off what is an Ethernet cable? You can not buy one at a store. You can buy a CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6...cable at nay computer store.
    Second twisted pair UTP)is not shielded. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition /0,,sid7_gci213234,00.html/

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  6. Re:Shielding? by Gaewyn+L+Knight · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Most ethernet cable used today is UTP... which stands for 'Unshielded Twisted Pair'. Their is no 'EM protection' built into the cable other than the arrangement of the wires to prevent crosstalk in the individual strands.

    If they can provide enough 'twists' and correct pair placement then they can easily provide just as much protection as standard Cat-5/Cat-6 that we use today.

    PS People should also NOT use shielded twisted pair... in most environments it actually hurts signal quality do to it's jacket effectively being a single strand of conductor to pick up stray noise from 110V, ballasts, etc...

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  7. Has existed for some time in TV applications by elgatozorbas · · Score: 3, Insightful
    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...

  8. Re:Shielding? by afidel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, if you are going to use STP you need to be using equipment designed for it. Equipment designed for STP needs to have a good ground plane and needs to bring that plane out to each port. Between the grounding of the jacket and the twisted pair STP cabling should not be worse performing that UTP, and in some environments is MUCH better. Of course in any invironment with enough RF noise to warrant STP I would just use fibre and not have to worry about the RF at all =)

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  9. Re:Glass is thiner. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful
    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?

  10. Beware - only Cat 5 by fedders · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  11. Re:Translated Page by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It's not "effort" or individuals that are supposed to be moderated. It's posts. (Though the stupid Karma system counteracts this goal...) A link to a translation is "informative".

  12. Re:Shielding? by InfiniteWisdom · · Score: 3, Insightful

    OK first off what is an Ethernet cable? You can not buy one at a store.

    A google search for "ethernet cable" finds 682,000 pages that disagree with you.

    By your argument, I guess you can't buy a car either... you can only buy a Honda Civic EX 1.5 5-sp Manual, Toyota Corolla CE 4-sp Auto etc.