Fibre Optic ups the cabling stakes

February 13, 2009 posted by Lucas Communications

Fibre optic cable, once the preserve of long distance cable runs and high-speed server backbone connections, we have recently been asked by one of our customers to quote for a fibre-to-desk solution in their quest for the ultimate in performance.

The proposed Category 7 will involve the use of shielded rather than unshielded twisted pair copper cabling. The switch will help achieve data rates of over 1GB. However, it may be that installing fibre is the only way to future-proof an office currently being fitted with a network.

Proponents of fibre to the desktop point out that, despite the advances in signalling technology that have allowed data rates over copper to rise from 10Mb to 100MB and now to 1GB, there are intrinsic limitations on the capacity of copper cabling. As data rates begin to approach 10GB, the cost of the transmission equipment will begin to rise rapidly and the transmission distances possible fall equally rapidly. If so, multi-mode fibre optic cables could become more cost effective than copper for horizontal networks.


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