IEEE 802.3an

The 802.3an working group deals with 10 Gigabit Ethernet( 10GbE) over copper cable, 10GBase-T. Transmission takes place via four-pair symmetrical conductors with defined properties up to 500 MHz.

As coding, 802.3an has specified a THP coding (Tomlinson Harashima Precoding) with pulse amplitude modulation with 16 levels( PAM-16). Further proposals concern PAM modulation with 12, 10 or 8 discrete levels.

Since Category 6 cabling does not meet bandwidth requirements, the specifications for this category are increased from 250 MHz to 500 MHz. The correspondingly expanded category bears the designation Cat 6A. Category 7 data cables have no problems with the high bandwidth, as their specifications extend to 600 MHz. However, the specifications here are also increased to 1 GHz. In the case of data connectors, the GG45 connector and the ARJ45 connector are two high- frequency connectors that are compatible with the RJ45 connector. The working group has defined the bridgeable distance, which is 100 meters.