Despite the many advances made in wireless technologies, most 21st century computer networks still utilize network cables as a physical means of transferring data. Network cables are available in diverse configurations, each of them designed for specific applications and purposes. Below is a discussion on the most prevalent solutions for network cabling in Frederick MD that you can apply in your home or office.
The Coaxial Cable
The coaxial cable is best known for connecting TV sets to antennas. The cable was invented in the 1880’s. Today, it is also implemented as a 10 Mbps ethernet cable, but was popular in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The cable consists of an inner copper wire with varying thickness and surrounded by shielding and insulation. For many network administrators, the coaxial cable was especially difficult to install and maintain.
The Twisted Pair Cable
Twisted pair cables were first used in the 1990’s for ethernet connectivity, offering data transfer speeds of 10 Mbps. Eventually, the cable was improved offering 100 Mbps to 10 Gbps speeds. The twisted pair has up to 8 wires that are wound together in handy pairs minimizing electromagnetic interference. The primary industry standards of the twisted pair cables are:
* Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) utilized in most modern ethernet cables since they are low cost
* Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) found in networks such as Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)
The Fiber Optic Cable
In the fiber optic network cable, instead of having insulated metal wire to transmit electrical signals, glass strands and light pulses are used. The fiber optic is bendable despite been made from glass. The cable has proven to be especially useful in the creation of Wide Area Networks (WANs) where underground long distance and outdoor cables are required. They are mostly used in office buildings to offer a means of high-volume communication traffic among computers. For fiber optic network cabling in Frederick MD offices, two standards are used:
* Single mode
* Multi-mode
The Parallel and Serial Cables
In the 80’s and 90’s most PC’s lacked ethernet capability, and the USB port was yet to be developed. Parallel and serial interfaces were used for PC-to-PC networking, Today, the interfaces are obsolete. These interfaces provided data transfer speeds of between 0.115 to 0.45 Mbps.
Interstate Communication Services (ICS) offers advice on the different types of network cabling in Frederick MD that you can incorporate into your business and home network.
