Demand for data bandwidth increases about 30% per year, and more systems are changing to Cat6A to keep up. The NetXpert XG2 was designed to provide a powerful, complete testing solution for those Cat6A installs. Further, some – but not all – Cat6 and even Cat5e cable runs can handle the higher speed, but testing is needed to identify which ones. The XG2 makes it easy to discover those legacy cable runs that can support higher speeds and may not need to be replaced.

The NetXpert XG2 cable qualifier is a complete solution for network cabling tests.It quickly and easily tests and documents whether a cabling link is suitable for the operation of up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet in accordance with IEEE 802.3. To do this, the NetXpert XG2 checks for errors in the cabling as well as the signal-to-noise ratio and data transmission capability of Ethernet network cabling up to 10Gbit/s. This ensures the cabling is able to provide the required data transmission speeds for the devices connected to the network.

To qualify the Ethernet transmission performance of copper cabling links, the handy NetXpert XG2 calculates the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to determine the signal quality, which may be particularly impacted by high-speed data transfers and performs bit error rate tests (BERT). Data packets with defined data rates are sent over the cabling link and checked for errors at the maximum link rate. The NetXpert XG2 also performs evaluations of the delay skew. These provide information about differences in the signal propagation delay of the individual wire pairs. With continuity testing, the NetXpert XG2 checks for interruptions, short circuits, swaps, split-pair errors, and high-impedance errors. The NetXpert XG2 determines the exact distance to points of error and the entire cable length.

Equipped with several active test functions, the NetXpert XG2 checks the transmission capability of the networks in operation. The cable qualifier detects PoE (Power over Ethernet) voltage and uses a load measurement to determine if the voltage is delivering the required power. Port detection checks whether the corresponding data rate and duplex capability are available. The NetXpert XG2 connects to the network at up to 10Gbit/s and runs a ping test to verify connectivity to IP hosts. It detects network devices using the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) or Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), provides VLAN detection, and tracks the route of data packets to a specific destination with traceroute functionality. The test reports are stored in the device and can be transferred to the PC at any time.