Panduit NK6PC17BLY Category 6 Patch Cord
The Panduit NK6PC17BLY delivers 17 feet of TIA-568-C.2 compliant Category 6 performance in a blue jacket, engineered for rack-to-patch-panel runs, cross-connect applications, and equipment-room copper interconnects where standardized cable management and color-coded organization are mandatory. This copper patch cord supports Gigabit Ethernet at 250 MHz bandwidth with verified performance margins that address the real-world insertion loss, return loss, and alien crosstalk challenges integrators face in high-density telecommunications rooms and data center hot-aisle deployments. Sold in minimum order quantities of 10, the NK6PC17BLY suits projects where you're standardizing on a single length for consistency across racks or pre-staging cable inventory for phased rollouts.
Key Features
- 17-foot length spans typical rack-to-rack or patch-panel-to-switch distances without excess slack
- Category 6 verified to 250 MHz, 1 Gbps Ethernet-ready with headroom for PoE and PoE+ power delivery
- Blue jacket enables TIA-606-B compliant color coding for horizontal link identification
- TIA-568-C.2, ISO/IEC 11801, and UL Listed for compliance with NEC Article 800 and international standards
- Panduit NK Series construction with strain-relief boots and snagless latch protection
- Minimum order quantity of 10 for volume deployment and inventory standardization
Panduit engineers the NK Series patch cord family to solve the cable-management problems that arise when integrators deploy hundreds of connections in a single rack or telecommunications room. The NK6PC17BLY's 17-foot length is purpose-built for scenarios where 10- or 14-foot cords fall short—think cross-aisle patch-panel connections, raised-floor cable routing with vertical drops, or equipment racks mounted opposite the distribution frame. The blue jacket isn't cosmetic: it's a functional element in TIA-606-B administration schemes, letting technicians instantly distinguish horizontal cabling (often blue) from backbone trunks (orange), equipment connections (yellow), or auxiliary circuits (green). This color discipline reduces troubleshooting time and prevents misidentification during moves, adds, and changes.
Category 6 performance to 250 MHz means the NK6PC17BLY handles 1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet with verified margins against alien crosstalk, a critical consideration in bundled cable runs where dozens of patch cords share the same cable tray or ladder rack. Panduit's manufacturing process controls pair twist rates, insulation concentricity, and connector termination geometry to ensure return loss and insertion loss stay within TIA-568-C.2 limits through 250 MHz—the threshold where marginal cords start injecting errors into high-speed links. For PoE and PoE+ deployments powering IP cameras, access points, and VoIP phones, the cord maintains DC loop resistance specs that prevent voltage drop from degrading powered-device performance at the far end of the link.
The NK Series molded strain-relief boot protects the critical termination point where the cable jacket meets the RJ45 plug, a common failure zone in cords subjected to repeated reconnections or tension during installation. Panduit's snagless latch design prevents the release tab from catching on adjacent cables or rack hardware during insertion and removal—a detail that becomes critical when you're working in a zero-U patch panel with 48 ports in 19 inches of rack space. UL Listing and TIA-568-C.2 compliance ensure the cord meets NEC Article 800 flammability and safety requirements and interoperates with any standards-compliant Category 6 channel. The 10-unit minimum order quantity aligns with how integrators actually buy connectivity: by the box for project consistency, color-coded inventory control, and the ability to stage complete rack builds without mixing cable brands or performance tiers mid-deployment.
