designed to be small yet strong. It has 10 pins and a different locking mechanism than the modular connector. Standardized as IEC 61076-3-124, its nominal bandwidth is 500 MHz (Cat 6A). Single-pair Ethernet defines its own connectors: IEC 63171-1 “LC”: This is a 2-pin connector with a similar locking tab to the modular connector, if thicker. IEC 63171-6 “industrial”: This standard defines 5 2-pin connectors that differ in their locking mechanisms and one 4-pin connector with dedicated pins for power. The locking mechanisms range from a metal locking tab to M8 and M12 connectors with screw or push-pull locking. The 4-pin connector is only defined with M8 screw locking. Autonegotiation and duplex Ethernet over twisted-pair standards up through Gigabit Ethernet define both full-duplex and half-duplex communication. However, half-duplex operation for gigabit speed is not supported by any existing hardware. Higher speed standards, 2.5GBASE-T up to 40GBASE-T running at 2.5 to 40 Gbit/s, consequently define only full-duplex point-to-point links which are generally connected by network switches, and do not support the traditional shared-medium CSMA/CD operation. Many different modes of operations (10BASE-T half-duplex, 10BASE-T full-duplex, 100BASE-TX half-duplex, etc.) exist for Ethernet over twisted pair, and most network adapters are capable of different modes of operation. Autonegotiation is required in order to make a working 1000BASE-T connection. When two linked interfaces are set to different duplex modes, the effect of this duplex mismatch is a network that functions much more slowly than its nominal speed. Duplex mismatch may be inadvertently caused when an administrator configures an interface to a fixed mode (e.g. 100 Mbit/s full-duplex) and fails to configure the remote interface, leaving it set to autonegotiate. Then, when the auto-negotiation process fails, half-duplex is assumed by the autonegotiating side of the link. Variants See also Classic Ethernet 25-pair color code Copper cable certification Ethernet extender Network isolator Notes References External links How to create your own Ethernet Cables Ethernet cables Physical layer protocols Local loop