The Category5 cable and Category5e cable are names which are synonymous with Ethernet cabling. The latter is a more sophisticated version of the former, and is often used in structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet. Token ring, basic voice services, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode, are some other signals which are carried by this type of cable.
Ethernet has many variations, and these can be classified into four categories. All these categories which form a part of Ethernet cabling include, Thick Wire (10 Base-5) Technology, Thin Wire (10 Base-2) Technology, 10 Base-T (Ethernet over UTP) Technology, and 10 Base-FL (Ethernet over Fiber Optics) Technology. An interesting point and one that is worth a mention here is that Ethernet running at 10Mbps, happens to be the most popular Local Area Networking technology in use today.
It is well worth knowing that the first two categories of Ethernet cabling mentioned above, namely the thick wire and the thin wire, makes use of coaxial cable, albeit of varied thickness. The 10 Base-T which is the third category uses the Unshielded Twisted Pair cable, and the 4th & last category of 10 Base-FL, uses the fiber optic cable. All versions of Ethernet are governed by a Media Access Protocol called CSMA/CD. In that the CSMA part stands for Carrier Sense Multiple Access, and the CD part stands for Collision Detection. The above mentioned protocol ensures which devices can transport data to the network, and the timing of the same.
There is an interesting dimension to Ethernet cabling, and this is available in the form of 10 Broad 36. This happens to be the only broadband Ethernet design, and allows operation over closed circuit cable television systems, calling for three contiguous TV channels to be apportioned for a single Ethernet segment.