Network Cable, the communications medium of choice.  

Network cable is used to transfer information from one network device to another. The type of network cable selected depends on the size of the network, the topology being considered and the structure of the network.  Network cable choices vary depending on the purpose of the cable, which can be either the backbone or internal infrastructure.

Network cablesare used to connect two or more computers and to share printers, scanners, etc. Your network cable needs to be selected carefully as this choice will have an effect on the entire network. The type of network cable chosen in any infrastructure is a very important decision that needs to be made.

There are several technologies available to use for network connections. Patch Cables are used for short distances in offices and enclosures. Electrical connections using twisted pair or coaxial cable are used in a building. Optical fibre cable is used for long distances, typically used as the backbone cable.

What Network Cables Are Available?

-    Coaxial Cable – referred to as either a thin coaxial and thick coaxial

-    Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) Cable – a special kind of copper telephone wiring

-    Fibre Optic Cable – a glass fibre core surrounded by protective coatings

The various types of fibre optic cable are:    Multimode OM1,2,3,4,5 Singlemode OS1 and OS2.Fibre Cable            Fibre Optic cable offers high bandwidth and can cover longer distances.

    -    Unshielded Twisted Pair – (UTP) is used for both conventional telephone and computer networking. The widest used of all.

                 The various wiring schemes for UTP are:-

                      CAT1, CAT2, CAT3, CAT4     

                      CAT5 has now been replaced by the CAT5e supporting speed of up to 1 Gbps

                            CAT6 support speeds of 1 Gbps for lengths up to 100 meters and 10 Gbps up to 55 meters.

                     CAT7 which can support speeds of 10Gbps and length up to 100 meters.
                      CAT8 which can support a speed of 25 Gbps or even 40 Gbps up to 30 meters

Copper Patch Leads

    -    Patch Cable -A patch cable can be either an electrical or an optical cable that is used to connect one electronic device to another.

            Different types of devices (e.g. a media converter connected to a computer) are typically connected with patch cables.

Fibre Optic Patch Leads

Conclusion:

Network cable is one of those things that looks easy on paper but can end up being difficult once it comes to applying it back in the real world.  Network cable is generally the last thing that we focus our attention on when designing a network. However, it plays a major role in the speed, accuracy, and stability of the network. With all the different types of cable available knowing the effect they have is very import when designing a network!