CAT8, or Category 8, is the latest standard in Ethernet cable technology.

Speed and Bandwidth: CAT8 cables are designed to support extremely high data transfer speeds, with capabilities reaching up to 40 Gigabit per second (Gbps) over short distances (up to 30 meters) and 25 Gbps over longer distances (up to 36 meters). They also support 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GBASE-T) and 25 Gigabit Ethernet (25GBASE-T) standards.

Frequency: CAT8 cables operate at frequencies of up to 2 GHz, which is significantly higher than previous categories, allowing for greater bandwidth and faster data transmission.

Construction: CAT8 cables typically use shielded twisted pair (STP) construction, with each pair individually shielded to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk. This shielding contributes to improved performance at higher frequencies.

Applications: CAT8 cables are primarily used in data center environments and for high-performance networking applications that require ultra-fast data transfer speeds and low latency, such as server farms, cloud computing, and high-density computing environments.

Backward Compatibility: CAT8 cables are backward compatible with lower category cables, such as CAT6, CAT6a, and CAT7. However, to fully utilize the capabilities of CAT8 cables, compatible networking equipment and connectors are required.

Standards: CAT8 cables are defined by the ANSI/TIA-568-C.2-1 standard for balanced twisted-pair cabling, as well as the ISO/IEC 11801-1:2017 international standard.