 Fiber optic cabling or copper data cabling, which should you choose? Structured cabling offers a whole system of cables, along with connectors and related hardware for voice and data cabling. It is applicable for enterprise data network, as well as office-fit-out cabling. Your preference for IT cabling material can directly affect the productivity of your IT arrangement, the trouble-free and fast transfer of data across the network, the power consumption and the overall impact on the environment. Usually, enterprise IT networks consider copper data cabling, mostly from the CAT 5E, CAT 6 and CAT 6A specifications for data cabling. They also have a range of specifications for fiber optic Ethernet cable installations. Transmission in the cables are vastly different than in fiber optic cabling. The transmission of data is sent through light pulses down cause of glass, and in copper data cables transmissions are sent via electrical pulses sent down copper connector wires. Copper cabling. Copper cable is suitable as a short-range cable, less than 100 meters, that runs to support typical desktop applications, however, for a higher throughput of data, faster transmission speeds and bandwidth demands of recent intensive commercial application and telecommunications, set the limit on cabling to approximate 10 gigabytes per second. For instance, integration of AV cabling with an established IT cabling by use of internet protocol, IP. The advancement in IT cabling technology has resulted in wider adoption of the 10G cabling, which empowered the data transfer speed to reach 10 gigabytes per second over Ethernet networks. In addition to that, the length of cable and higher speed of data transfer needed for the most advanced business system, led to introduction of electromagnetic interference, EMI, even in 10G cabling. The installation of 10G cabling is comparatively complicated and demand for high skill and expertise. Fiber optic Ethernet cable. Fiber optic cabling contains very thin fibers of plastic or glass, which are called optical fibers. Every strand is capable of carrying a higher bandwidth over a greater distance. The network bandwidth and speed of data transmission is substantially higher through fiber optic cabling as compared to copper cabling. A fiber optic Ethernet cable also consumes less space, is less heavy, and has a higher density and fiber splicing allows it to be laid in much longer runs. Expert organizations are preferring fiber optic cabling for increasing number of process and data intensive applications. This includes unified communications, UC, and access to cloud-based and cloud-hosted services. Which is faster, copper or fiber? Copper cables have in many cases, the same capabilities of transmission speeds as fiber cables. However fiber optic cables have the added advantage of transmitting those speeds over greater distances. The comparison between copper cable and fiber optic Ethernet cable when transmitting 10G, highlights the difference. Copper data cables are generally standardized at 90-100 meters cable links. When would you use fiber optic Ethernet cable? Advantages of fiber optic cable. If several connections between the same cabinets or buildings are required, then a fiber optic cable will be easier and less space consuming, than installing copper cabling links. A single 96-core fiber cable, could link two cabinets at 10 gig at 100 meters with 48 transmission connections, but would require 48 individual CAT 6A cables to achieve the same links. What are the disadvantages of fiber optic cable? As with all cabling infrastructure and technology design, different systems require different connections. If the requirements for connections are small, then fiber optic connections can have a higher cost of hardware for transmission versus copper cabling. A CAT 6A cable can link two switches with no requirements for additional hardware, but a fiber cable link will require additional fiber transmission and receive a hardware and the associated additional costs. Fiber optic cabling also is not suitable for linking analog signals between cabinets. In legacy phone systems, if analog lines are to be linked, then a copper data cable or phone cable will be required to be installed. What is the disadvantage of copper cable? The distance limitation of copper cable is a main disadvantage of copper cabling installations. User outlets will generally be designed to be within 90 meters of a data cabinet, to maintain the industry standards, and guarantee the required speeds over the chosen copper cable specified. However when linking buildings, floors or out to sub-cabinets, copper cabling cannot be used over 100 meters which is a disadvantage to fiber optic cable. Multiple links are also a disadvantage of copper cable to fiber optic cable. Each link in a copper cabling design must have its own designated data cabling link. The space requirements and containment requirements for multiple links can be costly and at times not possible due to space restrictions or building construction. 48 copper cable links can all be contained in one fiber optic cable, which highlights the different in space and time required to install those cables. Copper cables are also susceptible to interference from outside electrical interference, which corrupts the signals it sends. Fiber optic light pulses do not suffer this interference. Is fiber optic cable expensive? The components of fiber optic cable are no greater cost than copper cable components. Furthermore, when the core size of the fiber cable increase, economies of scale of cost come into play and the price by core link reduces. However the cost difference between copper cable and fiber optic cable is in the transmission hardware. Copper cabling doesn't require any additional hardware to link cabinets or create additional ports within a user space outside of the switch ports. Fiber optic cabling however required hardware to convert the traditional electrical data transmission to light pulses and back again for transmission. Depends on the distances, speed and requirements, the hardware can be an expensive addition to the existing system. Will fiber optics replace copper in the future? The price difference between fiber optic cabling and copper data cabling has narrowed as time has passed, and that cost difference is changing here each type of cable is used. Data centers have moved predominantly more towards fiber optic cabling links, as the requirement for increased bandwidth in the data center environment has increased. However the overall higher cost of cable and hardware still results in copper cabling being the chosen standard, in standard locations such as offices, schools and commercial buildings. Copper cables is also more robust and has a lower service cost, so for the time being, fiber cabling will see more growth in high bandwidth areas, while copper cabling will still dominate the regular cabling industry. For a free quotation, please visit our website nmcabling.co.uk, or call at 019-2388588.