Why can't fiber optic patch cord replace lan patch cord? What's the difference?

In the cabling industry, the battle between optical fiber and copper cable has been going on for more than a decade now with cloud computing 5 g new business constantly emerging, such as data center scale unceasingly expands, its architecture and wiring is becoming more and more complex, and the optical fiber lightweight and gradually reduce the cost of making backbone equipment is becoming more and more strong demand for optical fiber, optical fiber in large data centers for high ratio to more than 70%, far higher than that of copper, so does this mean that the copper fiber will be completely Generation? It's not.

Why is copper cable still an integral part of the data center?

1. Application comparison

Although, driven by the demand for higher bandwidth in data centers, optical fiber occupies a larger share in the deployment of data centers with its advantages of higher transmission rate and greater bandwidth, especially in backbone application networks. But copper will remain an integral part of the data center, and fiber cannot replace it in special applications such as voice transmission and power supply.

2. Unique advantages of copper cable

Optical fiber is inferior to copper cable in terms of maintenance, cost, wiring, etc. in comprehensive horizontal cabling up to 100 meters. The fiber core in the optical fiber is a special type of glass fiber, which is more fragile than the copper in the copper cable. In wiring and later maintenance, if the optical fiber is not paid more attention, it will be easily damaged, increasing its cost. In terms of the current market situation, although the price of optical fiber has been reduced, it is generally higher than the price of copper cable. Therefore, copper cable is more convenient and cheaper to wire and maintain than optical fiber.

Optical fiber cannot replace copper cable in power supply such as voice signal transmission, wireless access and POE power supply system.

First, because copper cables, unlike optical fibers, transmit data through electrical pulses and can support voice signals, they can be used for voice transmission, whereas optical fibers cannot.

Second, because the glass fiber used in optical fiber cannot conduct electricity, while the copper in copper cable can conduct electricity, copper cable can supply power while conducting data connection, so it is widely used in wireless access, POE power supply system, LED-based power system, etc.

In addition, modular plug end links (MPTL) have been approved as an option for connecting devices in the TIA-568.2-D standard, a move that will facilitate the growth of THE use of RJ45 copper cables, especially in surveillance systems using IP cameras. At the same time, the appendix to this specification has also added 28AWG size network jumper, while the smaller size of copper cable will facilitate air circulation and space utilization, allowing it to develop in high-density applications.

Summary

Optical fiber and copper wire are two common data center transmission media, both have anti-interference and good confidentiality, so what is the difference between optical fiber and copper wire? The differences between the two are mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

1. Transmission distance

Generally speaking, the transmission distance of copper wire is not more than 100m, while the maximum transmission distance of optical fiber is up to 100km (single-mode optical fiber), which is far more than the transmission distance of copper wire.

2. Transmission rate

At present, the maximum transmission rate of copper wire can be up to 40Gbps (such as class 8 network cable, DAC passive copper cable), and the maximum transmission rate of optical fiber can be up to 100Gbps (such as OM4 optical fiber jumper), far more than the copper wire.

3. Maintenance management

It is very simple to make the crystal head of the copper wire and connect the port of the equipment, while the operation of the shear fusion and equipment connection of the optical fiber has higher requirements and is more complicated.

4. Price and cost

In the case of the same length of optical fiber and copper wire, the price of optical fiber is generally slightly cheaper than that of copper wire, but the price of optical fiber insertion equipment (such as optical fiber couplers, etc.) and construction is higher than that of copper wire, so in the project cost, the price cost of optical fiber is higher than that of copper wire.

From the above comparison, fiber optic and copper wire have their own advantages, copper in voice transmission, interior, horizontal network wiring, POE system applications still occupies the important position, won't be completely replaced by a fiber, and copper technology is still in constant research and development, in order to meet the future demand for more devices connected, therefore, do not need to worry it will be eliminated by times.