Unlike most types of cables, fiber optic cable (or optical fiber) uses light instead of electricity to transmit signals. As we all know, light is the fastest method of transmitting information, and fiber optic cable has the additional advantage of being resistant to electrical interference. Hence, you can run it just about anywhere and anytime. Because light meets very little resistance, you can run fiber optic cable over very long distances, literally countries apart, without having to boost or clean the signal. Imagine what it means for a normal network installation to process signals that have been transmitted over thousands of miles away. That would be impossible.

Fiber optics also has speed as an advantage. It has a much cleaner signal than conventional copper cabling and can send signals at more than 10GB per second. Fiber optic cabling is like digital information as electrical cabling is to analog information. They are completely different.

Right now, fiber optic cable is used primarily for connecting network segments, making short runs, connecting buildings and floor aand connecting electrical cable to fiber optic cable through Ethernet converters. As it becomes more popular, which it will be, the price of fiber optic cable (and related devices including Ethernet converters and transceiver modules) should drop.

Knowing what's inside this very functional invention is good to know. A fiber optic cable includes the core, cladding, strength member, buffer, and jacket as its parts. Let's get to know them more!

The core of the cable is made of one or more glass or plastic fiber, and it provides the pathway through which the transmitted light can flow. The cladding is typically made of plastic, and it gives a refractive surface for light signals to reflect back into the core and continue its journey. The buffer consists of one or more layers of plastic and stregthens the cable and inhibits damage to the core. The strength members, as the name suggests, are strands f very hard material, like fiberglass, steel or Kevlar, and provide extra strength for the cable. Lastly, the jacket which can either be plenum or nonplenum is the outer covering or shield of the cable.

Fiber optic cable comes in two forms: the single-mode and the multi-mode cable. Because single-mode cable is so narrow, light can only pass thorugh it in a single path. This type of cable is extremely expensive and is very difficult to work with. On the other hand, multi-mode cable has a wider core diameter which gives light beams the freedom to travel multiple paths. Unfortunately, the multi-path configuration of the multi-mode fiber allows the possibility of signal distortion at the receiving end.

You will come across connecting either a single-mode or multi-mode fibe optic cable to a conventional copper cable at some point in your connection. This can pose a problem which can cut the communication you have already founded. But you don't have to worry as there are Ethernet converters and transceiver modules that serve to route, boost, and deliver the signals across these two opposite cables. On top of these, there are other related devices such as gigabit converters and SFP mini GBICs readily available on the market that you might find useful in your network.

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