Looking for experiences with 10Gig Copper and NBASE-T networking...

Hi all,

I'm in the pro-av market and I'm putting a system together that will connect two switches (Netgear M4300 / M4200) over 10Gig SFP+. What I am undecided on is how robust of a cable I really need for a link under 25ft. They aren't in the same rack.

I realize that CAT6A is recommended for 10Gig... but, I've been reading that CAT6 would be fine for between 37-55m. Also, I'm a huge fan of the super slim CAT6A cables that Monoprice and other retailers have, and while they're super convenient, it's hard for me to believe they can handle 10Gig... though I realize they're only designed for a single device-device link.

I'm not considering using slim run CAT6A for 25ft either, but I am considering unshielded CAT6A, mainly because I have it.

I am generally used to shielded CAT6A and even shielded CAT7A for digital video applications (HDBase-T), but I am thinking that I don't need to go that route for this. This 25ft run isn't in a ceiling or wall or anything so I'm not worried about interference.

Also, the whole CAT6 and CAT6A varieties are driving me nuts. Surely, 23AWG CAT6A is not the same as 26AWG CAT6A, but I suppose if they can both do 500Mhz they both qualify?

I'm looking for your experiences and practices right now...