The Category 6 cable has revolutionised data traffic, brought broadband internet to the workplace and pointed the way towards digitalisation in the gigabit age of office communication.

On 1 August, the Swiss National Holiday, this milestone was celebrated at Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), developer and provider of cabling systems for high-quality network infrastructures for the twentieth time.

R&M is one of the three largest RJ45 manufacturers in Europe and has produced over 100 million Cat. 6 modules in the past 20 years.

Cat. 6 technology has made it possible to increase the speed of data transmission and raise bandwidth to 250MHz. Since that time, quantities of data have been able to be transported in offices and buildings which previously would not have been conceivable. Even today, Cat. 6 is still the most installed network connection worldwide and adapters are situated in every second outlet of data and communication networks.

In 1999, even before transmission parameters were finally adopted, R&M developed its own Cat. 6 modules and set up a production facility in Bubikon, near its headquarters. It was the first manufacturer to produce the Cat. 6 modules fully automatically and in zero-defect quality.

“Our contribution to the start of the Cat. 6 age is a genuine Swiss success story,” R&M market manager LAN cabling Matthias Gerber says.

“R&M is proof that competitive production in Switzerland is possible. It has been proven that long-term investment in Switzerland generates high-value creation. We concentrate on premium markets which expect transmission performance and reserves to exceed standard parameters.”