When you are building a network that requires long distances, high speeds, and/or heavy bandwidth connections, there is no question: fiber optic cables win the day. Traditional copper cables carry electrical pulses along its metal strands, while fiber optics carry pulses of light along flexible glass threads. This difference often equates to fiber being the best solution for a new or upgraded network, and therefore being worth the heavier up-front investment. Aside from this reason, here are five other advantages of using fiber optics:

  1. Fiber optic transmission is faster. fiber optics can carry data at close to the speed of light. In contrast, copper-based transmissions currently max out at 40 Gbps.
  2. Fiber optic transmission covers greater distance. Fiber optic cables can transmit data over much longer distances compared with copper cables which are usually limited to lengths of 100 meters.
  3. Fiber optic cables are immune to electromagnetic interference. Light transmission in fiber optics does not generate any EMI. Fiber cables are thus more secure, compared with the electrical signaling in a copper network connection which generates a field of interference around the cables. This causes problems when you have multiple cables running near one another because such interference can bleed into the nearby cables, hindering the desired messaging.
  4. Fiber optics save space and enhance cable management. Fiber optic strands are extremely narrow. The most common fiber optic strand is the same diameter as a human hair. However, fiber optic cables do require protective sheathing, which “fattens” them up to a least two millimeters in width.
  5. Fiber optics are future-proof. The amount of data business consume increase annually. Such will require additional bandwidth requirements. Investing in a modern fiber optic cabling infrastructure will allow your network to operate at future speeds without replacing the cabling. A solid multifiber backbone in a structured environment will last for years, if not decades, and likely continue to support increasing bandwidth needs. The average lifespan of a copper category specification, on the other hand, is a little over five years.