"10Gbps Ethernet doesn't run across standard Cat5/6 cable. Instead, you need what is known as an SFP."
(edit to include links)
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/conv...
(edit to include links)
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/conv...
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Finally, while 10Gbps Ethernet can run across standard Cat5/6 cable, we elected to use SFP+ connectors. We chose this to have the flexibility between optical (fiber) and copper connections. Some network card and switch vendors lock down their equipment to only support proprietary SFP+s, which they charge a significant premium for. We spent significant time testing a combination of SFP+ vendors before finding FiberStore, a SFP+ manufacturer from which we could directly source SFP+s at a reasonable price that worked in the network gear we wanted to use.
As 10Gbps, and even 40G/100G, gain traction, you start running into cable length issues:
Attenuation and maximum length of AWG 7 copper wire:
Bit Rate (Gb/s), dB/m, Loss/m, Max length (m)
1, 0.721, 15.3%, 106
10, 2.28, 40.8%, 33.5
40, 4.56, 65.0%, 16
100, 7.21, 81.0%, 10.6