Cisco, Network Equipment Resource: UTP, F/UTP and S/FTP

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

UTP, F/UTP and S/FTP

You may be confused with the Ethernet cables using individual foil-shielded pair and overall shield constructions. Because there are some differences between standards in North American and some other international organizations.

Some website like the Siemon listed the naming rules of Ethernet cables. What are they? Let’s take a look.

This cable terminology is outlined below and is based upon the ISO/IEC 11801:2002 annex E standard systematic naming convention shown in the following figure.

UTP (Categories 3, 5e and 6)

UTP cable constructions feature unshielded twisted-pairs enclosed within an overall thermoplastic jacket as shown in figure 1. UTP cables are compatible with Siemon MAX®, CT®, SM®, HD®, S210®, S110®, and S66™ product lines.

F/UTP (Categories 5e and 6)

F/UTP cable constructions feature unshielded twisted-pairs surrounded by an overall conductive mylar-backed aluminum foil shield and enclosed within an overall thermoplastic jacket as shown in figure 2. F/UTP cables are compatible with Siemon screened MAX, screened HD5, screened CT, and screened SM product lines. TIA and legacy Siemon materials referred to this cable type as "ScTP", "screened" or "FTP".

S/FTP (Category 7)

S/FTP cable constructions feature individually foil-shielded twisted-pairs surrounded by an overall braid and enclosed within an overall thermoplastic jacket as shown in figure 3. S/FTP cables are compatible with Siemon TERA™ and screened MAX product lines. Legacy Siemon materials referred to this cable type as "PiMF", "STP", "SSTP" or "fully shielded".