NEXT failures can be difficult to diagnose. They can be due to faulty cable, faulty connectors, or poor installation practices. The NEXT locator plot provides a view of NEXT in the cable along its length. When a cable fails autotest, the NEXT locator helps determine the location along the cabling link that is most likely to have caused failure. Typically, you will see the highest NEXT at a connection point, but sometimes if you see NEXT is high all along the cable, that is the culprit.

With NEXT Locator, you can quickly pinpoint the exact point of failure along the cabling system and take corrective action. Some common causes of failure include improper termination, split pairs, mixed categories of components/cable, excessive force on cable during installation and too much compression on cable bundles by cable ties or supports. Visual inspection at the point indicated in the NEXT Locator TDR trace will determine corrective action.