Hybrid and Bundled Cables

As a result of the demand for open office architecture and the need to support multiple telecommunications applications in a shared sheath, performance specifications for hybrid cables have been revised. A new term called "bundled cables" has been introduced to describe 4-pair cable assemblies that are not covered by an overall sheath (as specified for hybrid cables), but by any generic binding method such as "speedwrap" or "cable-ties."

The new hybrid and bundled cable requirements state that power sum NEXT loss between all non-fiber cable types within the cable shall be 3 dB better than the specified pair-to-pair NEXT loss for each cable type. See figure 1.