What is this?

[Jerrriley]

It's not important, just found it in an old office and don't recognize what it is.

 

[iwire]

It's not important, just found it in an old office and don't recognize what it is.

Pretty sure it is an old coax data connection with a bypass switch.

 

[Jerrriley]

My first guess was some kind of coax also, but never seen the side by side wire like that. Thanks for the response, I was just curious when I saw it.

 

[GoldDigger]

IBM used that type of cable, called twinax, for their synchronous data terminals including POS devices. They used a polled hierarchy so the data line toward the central controller had to be interrupted in order for a device to transmit without interference from upstream.
The bus or ring came in on one cable and out on the other, hence the need for a bypass switch when a device was removed or under repair.

 

[iwire]

IBM used that type of cable, called twinax, for their synchronous data terminals including POS devices. They used a polled hierarchy so the data line toward the central controller had to be interrupted in order for a device to transmit without interference from upstream.
The bus or ring came in on one cable and out on the other, hence the need for a bypass switch when a device was removed or under repair.

We were still installing IBM token ring connectors and cabling as late as 1999. An advantage they had over the OPs connectors was that they self bypassed.

 

[Jraef]

Twinax! I was looking at that and some neurons were firing in the back of my brain, but I could NOT for the life of me remember what it was called. Thanks GD, saved me from a 3AM wake-up recollection.

 

[Rampage_Rick]

My electrical supplier (Nedco) used IBM Twinax terminals up to around 2006. Then they changed locations and transitioned to IBM terminal emulation on standard PCs.