I am new here, so please forgive me if I am out of line but... (try 2)
To directly answer your question, TIA-568-D.1, section 10.2, Length states:
“The horizontal cabling extends from the termination of the media at the HC in the TR or, when used, the TE to the telecommunications outlet/connector or multi-user telecommunications outlet assembly in the work area. The maximum horizontal cabling length shall be 90 m (295 ft), independent of media type.”
In your specific circumstance, TIA-862-A: Building Automation Systems Cabling is the only ratified standard, I am aware of, that allows direct attach to equipment. This may increase your distance to the full 100M, but I do not own a copy of this standard.
As for Mr. Maupin’s comment,
Cicso does not regulate the low voltage cabling industry, i.e their statements, although an industry leader in network equipment, are just opinions. At no point do they claim any of it will work on Category 5 cable (Category 5e, yes)
Even NBASE-T states:
NBASE-T Alliance is pursuing specifications related to:
PHY-MAC system interface
PHY- magnetics system interface
Channel characteristics
(http://www.nbaset.org/technology/specifications/)
TIA does (for the US at least), specifically TIA-568 (current revision D), for performance and test characteristics.
IEEE standards produced by the working group defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control (MAC) of wired Ethernet.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.3)
Any other standard being used would be considered proprietary and, typically, leads to issues if/when you change active equipment manufacturers.
As for 10GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3an) on Category 6, TIA's TSB-155 is the test parameter and can only be tested for after the installation. So if someone tells you "I can guarantee a 55M link on Category 6", they are not being honest.
Dev is dead on about Category 6 cable. TIA (and manufacturers) pushed it to the market prior to IEEE ratifying IEEE 802.3ab (1000BASE-T), believing 1000BASE-T would only work on a 250Mhz rated cable. IEEE managed to get it to work on Category 5e also and relegated Category 6 to an odd existence. I am unaware of an IEEE standard protocol that will work on Category 6 and not Category 5e.
The other issue, and the most frightening and dangerous one, is PoE (as governed by IEEE) is going to start butting heads with the NEC in the near future. It should get interesting. If you research heat-loads on the cable plant, specifically for PoE+ (IEEE 802.3at) and PoE++ (IEEE 802.3bt) you will find that there can be significant heat issues with bundled cables (that group of wires in your cable tray and neatly bundled on the back of your rack, See TIA-TSB-184), especially for Cables at and below Category 5e or smaller AWG cables.
Remember, Cisco's original non-IEEE standard PoE implementation did not require an Ack/Nack and because of this, toasted countless multi-thousand dollar Cable Certifiers.
Bottom line, for accurate cabling information, look to TIA and IEEE, not network equipment or cabling manufacturers.
I believe this second attempt has met the factual requirements for a response directly to the OP question.
And not I shall take my soapbox and go home.
Respectfully, BICSI RCDD with 20+ Years in the industry.
I'm curious, how do you intend to use this single long link? Where is it running? That is a long indoor distance. – Ron Maupin – 2016-03-17T03:30:14.100
3As long as will work. Anything over 90 meters solid core + 10 meters stranded core (patch cables) is outside of spec. That is not to say it won't work. Whether it works will depend on the hardware, cable and environment. (You could go further with fibre cables). I've seen sites which claim up to 700 foot (213 meters) but this is WAY out of spec and a bad idea. You could use Ethenet extenders or jerry rig a small switch powered by POE to break to 100m barrier and stay in spec. – davidgo – 2016-03-17T04:04:28.140
2Additionally: the 100 metres is the minimum that is supposed to work - in theory, 100 metres will always work. 105 metres is quite likely to work but might not. It's not like the switch measures the length of your cable and goes "100.1 metres, I'm going to turn this port off now and not even bother trying to use it." – user253751 – 2016-03-17T23:14:50.713