Cisco Catalyst 5000 Series Switches

Catalyst Family 10/100TX Telco Cabling

All Catalyst® Family 10/100TX Telco switching modules incorporate industry-standard RJ-21 connectors and require compatible Category 5 cabling systems to achieve 100Mbps data rates.

The cabling vendors listed below have not been officially approved by Cisco, but their products have been reviewed and are compatible with Catalyst Family 10/100TX RJ-21 switching modules. These vendors have significant experience with Catalyst cabling requirements and can assist customers with product selection. Note that this list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all suppliers of compatible equipment—it lists only those suppliers reviewed by Cisco.

IMPORTANT: Please note that Amp CHAMP System 5 cabling components are not compatible with Catalyst 10/100TX products. Since these connectors will physically fit onto Catalyst RJ-21-equipped switching modules and are advertised as Category 5 compliant, the potential for confusion is significant. However, Amp's CHAMP System 5 uses a different compensation scheme to achieve Category 5 compliance and WILL NOT INTEROPERATE WITH CATALYST FAMILY 10/100TX PRODUCTS.

The use of non-compliant Category 5 cabling systems or Category 3 cabling systems may result in excessive carrier sense errors and significantly reduced throughput. Use of these cabling systems is not supported by Cisco for 10/100TX applications.

The following vendors supply cabling systems that are compatible with Catalyst Family 10/100TX RJ-21 products:

Additionally, Category 5 telco cables may be ordered directly from Cisco. Ordering information follows:

Table 1 shows pin-out pattern used on Catalyst 10/100TX (and10BaseT) RJ-21 switching modules.

Table 1   RJ-21 to RJ-45 Pin-out Pattern