Saturday, February 11, 2012

What Is The Big Deal About Fiber Optical Cables?

By Buran Yunanap


If you own a business, you may have heard about other businesses that are upgrading to fiber optical cables. If you are not sure what these are, then you probably have many questions about why they are upgrading. You are also probably wondering if you should upgrade.

Companies around the world are upgrading their copper wire networks to fiber optics at an alarming pace. But what do they know that you do not? It is the latest and greatest technology, but is it necessary? It may very well be.

If your network is run on Ethernet cables, otherwise known as Category-5 or Cat-5, chances are that is sufficient for your business. Cat-5 is comprised of four 24-gauge copper wires that are unshielded and has RJ-45 jacks on either ends. It basically looks like a thick phone line with larger jacks. Cat-5 can transmit data in the form of electrical signals at 10 megabits per second. Cat-5e, or enhanced, is capable of 1000 megabits per second, which is known a gigabit Ethernet. Cat-5 cable can only transmit up to 300 feet and is susceptible to interference and can be easily tapped.

Fiber uses light rather than electrical signals to transmit data. Transmission bandwidth of fiber far exceeds even Cat-5e. In fact, the true maximum bandwidth throughput of fiber is still unknown. Light can also travel substantially farther in fiber, over 1,500 miles in some optical cables (not that you would need that for your business).

Aside from this, there are two huge advantages to fiber from a business perspective. The first is that fiber does not degrade like Cat-5, so bandwidth will not be lost. Cat-5 can lose its quality for many reasons, especially if cables are placed near electrical cords or other Cat-5 and phone lines.

However, the most important aspect of fiber in the business perspective is security. Cat-5 can easily be exploited for vulnerabilities. An inside threat or corporate spy can easily implant devices on or near Cat-5 cables that will intercept the data as it travels through the lines. Because Cat-5 is copper wire, breaks in lines and these implanted devices cannot be detected without visually inspecting every line. Fiber on the other hand is completely secure. Any break in optical cables will completely cut the line. Spying devices cannot be used on or near fiber, so data traveling through the lines is completely secure during transit. Additionally, there are methods to locate where attempted intrusions (breaks in the lines) have occurred with simple software.

Fiber optical cables offer businesses security and better data transmission than any other type of cable. When your company needs at least one of these benefits provided by fiber, it is time to make an upgrade.




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