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Crossed Wires: Page 2 of 2

Some vendors have talked about developing cheaper gigabit interfaces, which is possible, at least theoretically, with Cat6, but it's hard to imagine how they could come up with anything that could compete with the increasing volumes that continue to drive down the price of the existing gigabit interface technology.

Sure, a lot can happen in 10 years. Maybe Cat6 is a worthwhile investment, but for now, it's nothing more than an expensive insurance policy that your cable infrastructure will support some unforeseen technology that may emerge in the next decade or so. Cat6 is backward-compatible with Cat5e, though, so you could just run Cat6 cable now, and upgrade the terminations later, thereby minimizing cost and risk. But you better make sure it will work. Even mixing vendor equipment with a straight, standard Cat6 install is risky this early in the game.

Only you can determine how much insurance you need. Whatever you decide, though, calculate carefully. And hire a professional to do the job.