Pre-terminated trunk copper cable and method of using the same

High-density cabling products and standard modular designs play an important role in today's data centers and server rooms. This also happens with copper cables. During the installation of network cables, cable installers may traditionally choose to terminate the category cables themselves. However, this will slow down the installation.

In addition, field-terminated copper cables (such as Cat5, Cat5a and Cat6) can cause failures if they are not terminated correctly. Since there may be hundreds or thousands of RJ45 connectors that need to be terminated with twisted-pair copper wires, there is a high probability of failure and material waste. To reduce installation time and the risk of failure, pre-terminated copper backbone cables are being introduced into data centers.

So, what is copper trunk cable and how is it used?

What is a pre-terminated copper trunk cable?

In short, copper backbone cables are made up of individual copper cables that are pre-terminated at the factory. No additional termination is required, and cable installers can install the copper cables directly. Since the cables are bundled together, there is no need to worry about cable confusion.

Suppliers often provide a variety of copper trunk cables to meet different needs in actual applications. To choose the right copper trunk for a specific application, three important factors need to be considered: The first is the type of copper cable. Trunk copper cables using Cat5, Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat7 cables are all available on the market. The second factor is the number of cables. The most commonly used copper cables usually have 6 or 12 cables. More or fewer cables are also available. The third is the termination type of the copper trunk cable branches. The branches are usually terminated with RJ45 plugs or jacks, and some copper trunks may leave the end or both ends unterminated for customers to DIY according to actual applications.

The following figure shows the three most commonly used types of copper trunk cables: plug-to-plug copper trunks, jack-to-jack copper trunks, and jack-to-plug copper trunks.

How to use backbone copper cables?

Using backbone copper cables can effectively reduce installation time and improve the working performance of copper networks. In addition, if used properly, they can also provide an easy-to-manage wiring environment. How to make full use of pre-terminated backbone copper cables? During the wiring process, backbone cables should usually be cross-connected for interconnection before being connected to the target device. The following shows three common situations when using copper trunk cables for copper cabling.

Dual Connector Interconnect

In the first scenario (shown in the figure below), a 6-jack to 6-jack copper backbone cable is used to connect three servers to a switch. Copper patch panels are used on each end of this connection. One is near the switch end and the other is near the server end. Copper patch cords are used to interconnect these devices.

Triple Cross Connection

Cross-connection is also common in data centers. The following figure shows the basic wiring structure of a three-way cross-connection. In this network, three RJ45 patch panels are used. This structure is like the dual connector interconnection mentioned above. It just adds a cross-connection process on the switch side.

Four-link cross-connect

A more complex network structure is shown below, which is a commonly used four-patch cross-connect. This type of connection usually requires a wiring area, which is usually a cabinet. In this case, two copper trunk cables are used as permanent cables. The cabinet uses jumpers to connect the equipment. Four patch panels are used. There is a separate cabinet for the cross-connect.

Summarize

With pre-terminated backbone copper cables, cabling in large data centers or high-density environments becomes easier and faster. It also simplifies cable management in data centers. Currently, there are many suppliers that provide backbone copper cables. Some can also provide customized backbone copper cables according to data center applications, reduce material waste, and help build a cleaner and tidier cabling environment.