There are hundreds of different kinds of expensive control-systems wiring for many different purposes: DMX lighting control, Home Automation system control, Audio production control, etc.
Many of these expensive types of cabling can be replaced by Cat5. Cat5 cable includes 8 individual copper wires, so if the signal you're trying to send can run through some 24 AWG wires (or thereabouts) for long distances, you'll be good to go without the expensive custom cable your control system vendor wants you to buy.
More information to be posted...