Shielded Cables

Unshielded Twisted Pair cables have long been very popular with networking standards (most notably ethernet) for cost and easy installation.  Shielded cable would be able to transmit data faster, but have been avoided because they are more costly to build and install.  However, the next generation Cat 6a cables for 10 Gbps Ethernet are getting more complicated.  They have a spacer in them to separate pairs which makes the cables thicker and more bulky so they are more expensive to make and harder to install.  I saw an article in the Dec / Jan 2006-2007 issue of Connector Specifier magazine that describes how the increased costs related to unshielded cables are making shielded cable viable in more applications [1].  This could be worth consideration on future projects and will be interesting to see if any shielded cables are specified in major networking standards in the future.

[1] McLaughlin, Patrick. Dec/Jan 2006-2007. "Shielded Cable and Connectors are Breathing New Life into Mission-Critical Data Centers." Connector Specifier Magazine. Volume 22, Issue 8.