Networking may be straightforward, but the world of networking terminology is not. Even when you've been steeped in business of Ethernet for many years, you may still get confused by some of the terms. What are 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX and the difference between them? In this post, this Ethernet network naming convention will be tackled.

1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX, their names share a lot in common, except that the latter has one more letter "X". What do they mean? The "1000" refers to the transmission speed of 1000 Mbps. The "BASE" refers to BASEband signaling, which means that only Ethernet signals are being carried on the medium. The "T" refers to the twisted pair cables that the technology uses. 1000BASE-T is a shorthand designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The standard is designated as IEEE 802.3ab and allows 1 Gbps data to transfer for distances of up to 100 meters.

1000BASE-TX is a physical layer standard similar to 1000BASE-T created and managed by Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). It also referred to as TIA/EIA 854. 1000BASE-TX enables transmitting data at speeds of gigabits per second for up to 100 meters in length and is also maintained under the IEEE 802.3ab standard. 1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX are both types of gigabit Ethernet networking technology that uses copper cables as a medium.

1000BASE-T is normally implemented using four pairs of the commonly installed Category 5 (Cat 5) unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable or enhanced Cat 5 cabling version of UTP cable to achieve gigabit data rates. Transmitting a 1000 Mb/s data stream over four pairs of Cat 5 twisted pair cables presents several design challenges to both the transmission system designer and standards developer. The challenges are due to signal attenuation, echo, return loss, and crosstalk characteristics of cables, as well as electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility. The 802.3ab standards specify special filters for hybrid circuits used in full-duplex transmission over single wires, a special five-level pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) encoding mechanism instead of binary signals, forward error correction techniques, and pulse shaping technologies to make 1000BASE-T a functional and reliable networking technology. The following picture shows 1000BASE-T.

As opposed to the four pairs of wires used in 1000BASE-T networks, 1000BASE-TX uses two pairs of wires for data transmission which enables transmitting data at speeds of 500 Mbps on Category 6 or 7 UTP cables. The following picture shows 1000BASE-TX.

1000BASE-T can be used in data centers for fast server switching or in desktop PCs for broadband applications. The biggest advantage of 1000BASE-T is that it can use existing copper cabling, negating the need to rewire the system with newer optical fiber cables. However, 1000BASE-TX requires Cat 6 or 7 cabling. The design of 1000BASE-TX does not require hybrids, nor does it necessitate echo cancellation, so its electronics can be much less expensive than comparable 1000BASE-T electronics. Though 1000BASE-TX enables the building of devices with less circuitry to support, it has not been as commonly used as 1000BASE-T, due to the high cost of Cat 6 and 7 cable requirements and the falling cost of 1000BASE-T products.

1000BASE-T and 1000BASE-TX are different standards. As a result, they have different connection requirements. For each of them, there are various kinds of compatible SFP copper transceiver modules For example, compatible SFP copper transceiver modules like QFX-SFP-1GE-T, FCLF-8520-3, and HP JD089B are for 1000BASE-T network connection; and compatible SFP copper transceiver module like Cisco GLC-T is for 1000BASE-TX network connection.

Posted by: jowang at 06:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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