INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
The age-old
debate: Copper
vs. fibre cabling?
While the age-old debate of copper versus fibre
is one that has crept up time and time again
over the past two decades, it is an argument
that no longer has basis since neither can
be considered the better of the two cabling
options when we look at networks as a whole—
from the desktop to the LAN to the data centre,
explains Narender Vasandani, RCDD, Technical
Manager, Siemon Middle East.
D
ecades ago, many fibre
proponents declared that
category 6 balanced twistedpair cabling would be the limit for
copper. However, the advancements
that have since brought us category 6A
and category 7A, and will soon bring us
category 8, have done more than simply
prove that mind-set wrong. Instead,
they have paved the way for copper to
remain the de-facto media in the LAN for
several more years than anyone thought
possible. And advancements happening
now with copper cabling technology and
within IEEE standards will uphold a longterm position for copper in data centre
switch-to-server connections.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
Nonetheless, optical fibre cabling
remains, and will remain, the standard
for backbone cabling in the LAN, the
data centre and in the outside plant
arena. New fibre technologies and
standards are making it easier, costeffective and less complex than ever to
deploy high speed links in these areas
where there is a need to quickly and
efficiently move large amounts of data
over longer distances.
In less than a decade, remote powering
technology has revolutionised the look
and feel of the IT world. Unlike fibre,
copper balanced twisted-pair cabling
has the capability to deliver dc power to
IP-enabled devices such as surveillance
cameras, wireless access points, RFID
readers, digital displays, IP phones and
other equipment. The popularity of this
technology is staggering – more than
100 million power over Ethernet (PoE)
enabled ports are shipping annually.
The war is over
Unlike fibre, category 6A copper systems
support the remote power requirements
of the horizontal LAN. And with the
upcoming category 8 twisted-pair
cabling positioned to support costeffective 25GBASE-T and 40GBASE-T
applications in data centre switch-toserver connections, copper is here to stay.
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