CAT6a Cabling:

CAT6A cable allows for the transmission of up to 10Gbps and is fast becoming the cabling infrastructure of choice for VoIP, CCTV and data networks. Specified for use in Class Ea networks, CAT6A cable allows for extremely high data rate transmission of up 10Gbps and at a frequency of 500Mhz.

CAT6 Cabling:

CAT6 cable, also commonly known as network, LAN or Ethernet data cable, is a 4 twisted pair sheathed copper wire cable which can support data transfer rates of up to 1 gigabits (1,000 megabits). This higher bandwidth allows for quick transferral of large files in an office network.

CAT5e Cabling:

As an enhancement of the CAT5 standard, CAT5e is currently one of the most common choices for small- and medium-sized businesses, providing similar crosstalk protection as CAT6 wiring, but at a more affordable cost. And with data speeds of up to 1Gbps, CAT5e is generally fast enough and reliable enough to handle the voice and data needs of many companies, with room to spare as you grow.

CAT5 Cabling:

While CAT5 wiring is no longer quite as popular as data speed demands continue to increase, it is still a viable solution for small businesses on a budget. CAT5 data cabling is limited to transmission speeds of 10/100Mbps at frequencies of up to 100 MHz, making it slower for most ethernet systems today. However, if your primary need is a LAN with basic internet/ethernet and voice capabilities, CAT5 may be just the right solution for you.

CAT3 Cabling:

Once the industry standard in the 1990s, CAT3 cabling today is mostly used for the most basic phone system configurations.  It’s limited data capabilities (10Mbps at 16 MHz), make it the recommended solution when your business only requires a basic phone system with occasional internet access and provides a nice, clean voice signal that will suit your specific needs.. For companies requiring more substantial internet/ethernet capabilities, one of the solutions listed above are recommended.

Fiber Optic cabling provides high bandwidth and is typically used for backbone connections between localized networking equipment and is becoming the preferred choice for high quality connections. We install, test and maintain multi-mode and single-mode fiber (Inside and Outside)

Fiber Optic Advantages:

 – Increased Distances – as much as 10,000 to 15,000kmIncreased Speed

 – 10Gb and Increasing Future-ProofSafe and Secure Lightweight and Compact 

– 250 microns (quarter of a mm) in diameter; a 12 core (12 fiber) cable may be less than 8 mm in diameter for indoor use

Types of Fiber Optic Glass:

Two main types of fiber glass exist: single mode (OS1, OS2) and multimode (OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4).

Single mode fiber has a small light-carrying core of 8 to 10 microns (μm) in diameter. It is normally used for long distance transmissions with laser diode-based fiber optic transmission equipment. Single mode fiber, due to its advanced design, has (theoretically) infinite bandwidth.

Typical Single Mode Fiber Signal Range:

Multimode fiber, on the other hand, has a relatively large light-carrying core, usually about 50 μm or larger in diameter. This fiber type is usually used for short distance transmissions with LED or laser-based fiber optic equipment. With the larger core, multiple frequencies of light have room to travel down the cable’s length, bouncing off the cladding around the core. Ultimately, modal dispersion creates distance limitations when working with multimode fiber: at a certain point, the spread of the light waves becomes so great that it becomes difficult to determine the waveform’s leading and trailing edges, making the signal nonfunctional.

Even though multimode has more limited signal distance, it is still the fiber type we would recommend for most inner-premise cabling installations today. (Obviously, the type of fiber you choose is dependent the requirements of the job and equipment you are installing!)

There are several reasons for this. First of all, multimode fiber has a larger core that allows a greater of margin of error when terminating the fiber. This means that multimode hardware components are generally lower cost, even though multimode fiber is more expensive to produce. Along similar lines, at the moment many manufacturers are developing proprietary links and using chip sets and light engines that use more frequencies within the fiber than are available with single mode fiber.

However, single mode fiber is often the best options for applications ranging over greater distances.

We have multiple fiber cable configurations in both single mode and multimode, all featuring our SSF™ polymer at the glass level for increased durability.

Types of Multimode Fiber

There are four different types of multimode fiber. Today’s laser-optimized OM2, OM3, and OM4 are the preferred fibers when using multimode.

OM1 is traditionally an older technology that is rarely supported in today’s applications. Some older OM2 was even designed for LED-based transmission. We should note, however, that OM2 patch cable can be used at the end of a long run of OM4 without any signal issues. The basic specifications for different grades of multimode fiber are as follows:

– OM1: fiber with 200/500 MHz*km overfilled launch (OFL) bandwidth at 850/1300 nm (typically 62.5/125 μm fiber).

– OM2: laser-optimized with 400/500 MHz*km OFL bandwidth at 850/1300 nm (typically 50/125 μm fiber).

– OM3: laser-optimized 50 μm fiber having 2000 MHz*km EMB bandwidth designed for 10 Gb/s, 40 Gb/s, and 100 Gb/s transmission.

– OM4: laser-optimized 50 μm fiber having 4700 MHz*km EMB bandwidth designed for 10 Gb/s, 40 Gb/s, and 100 Gb/s transmission.