Both Ethernet cables and telephone cables are good choices for home network. How to choose wisely for your home networking at the least cost but high performance? This question involves various factors, the sizes and types of files you will be transmitting, your networking planning, budget and Internet connection sharing.

Most of us hold the view that it is only Ethernet cables can achieve home network connectivity, and this assertion is incorrect. Telephone cables can also operate a network through frequency division multiplexing, which means that the data transmitted over the lines runs at a different frequency than the voice traffic. When you use the phone, data can be sent at the same time via a phone line network as well as fax can be sent via the Internet. Since the data sent by a modem is modulated to the same frequency as voice traffic, it is unnecessary to use the dial-up Internet.

Telephone cable is one of the merits of a phone line network. In the phone line network system, the telephone cable is in place already and thus it is redundant for you to connect them. You can connect a computer to the network in any room with a phone jack.

Ethernet cable, also called network cable, is the most common type of cable used for home and enterprise network connectivity. Network cables can be divided into several types according to different standard of classification. They can be divided into shielded twisted pair and unshielded twisted pair. Ethernet cables are also rated by Category, Cat5e, Cat6 and Cat6a are the most common types. Cat5e cable support 1G network while Cat6 and Cat6a support 10G network connectivity respectively. According to the different polish type, they can also be categorized as UPC and APC. Those three kinds of cabling relies on the twisting of the pairs to reduce signal loss and has terminating connectors called RJ45s, which are similar to but slightly larger than the RJ11 phone connectors.

For high-speed transmission, Ethernet cable is more appropriate for long-haul transmission. Phone networks originally operated at 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps, but newer networks can run at speeds up to 10 Mbps. However, 10 Mbps might be considered a disadvantage to this type of network since even with the newest technology, network speed is capped at 10 Mbps. The data rates after Cat6 (Cat6 is including) all can be up to 10 Gbps. If your demand only limits at some near area within short distance, and then telephone cable is your choice.

Relatively speaking, network patch cables are more expensive than telephone cables. But they do worth the money. If you have a tight budget, telephone cable would be a good choice as well. Merits of Cat6 cable (network cabling) are the availability of premade cables, the ability to run the Ethernet cable anywhere you want to put a computer and the speed of the data transfer. However, you need specialized equipment, in the form of hubs or switches, to make use of this cabling. These hubs and switches cost significantly more than the basic telephone connection equipment and can run in the hundreds of dollars.

Both telephone cable and Ethernet cable are of high security. But some kinds of network cable are fragile in certain circumstance, such as moist, squirrels in forests, truck with high clearance and etc. And thus, telephone cable is more secure than network cable.

This article mainly discussed about telephone cable and Ethernet cable, and made a comparison in terms of transmission speed, budget and security. The choice between Ethernet cable and phone cable comes down to your need for speed and your available budget at large extent.

Oznake: network patch cable, ethernet patch cable, telephone cable, cat5e cable, cat6 cable

It is generally acknowledged that build a new house is not a simple task, especially for setting up a new network in the new house. Cat5 network cable seems lags behind a lot in the long run of network cables. For future proofing network cables, both Cat6 and Cat7 Ethernet cables are good choice. Allodoxaphobia would occur under this occasion for most Ethernet users about the optimal one. This article would put emphasis on comparing the difference between Cat6 and Cat7 network cable, and guiding you to choose a better one for a new house in the following four aspects.

Specification is paramount to network cables, so do the Cat6 and Cat7 Ethernet cables. Cat7 Ethernet cable features even more strict specifications for crosstalk and system noise than Cat6 Ethernet cable. Shielding has been added for individual wire pairs on the Cat7 cable. Besides, CAT 7 is backwards compatible with traditional Cat5 and Cat6 Ethernet. And Shielding has been added for individual wire pairs on the Category 7 cable. Xmultiple's UltraJAX connectors are designed specifically for these high speeds with not contact pins and a printed circuit board with contact pads integrated into the RJ45 style housing.

For setting up a network in a new house, it is necessary for us to take the prevalent network speed in the years ahead. Will home machines will be able to actually use 10G even in the next 10 years? Years ago, people did to put in cat6 rather than cat5e. They believed the market went from 1G which runs fine on 5e directly to 10G which requires cat6a or cat7. All those people who thought they would "save" money in the future found out they wasted it. The now run 1G over their very expensive (at install time) cat6 cable and if they ever want to go faster will have to replace it just as if they had put in cat5e.

Cat6 cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz while Cat7 cable is rated for transmission frequencies of up to 600 MHz. The maximum cabling length of Cat6 network cable is 100 m. Cat7 has been designed as a standard for Gigabit Ethernet over 100 m of copper cabling.

With current SSD drives pushing past 500Mbytes which is around a 50% improvement in about a year and a half, 4k tv's needing around 10gbs because you never get max bandwidth, going to be throwing spam about your house. As far as I’m concerned, I would lean towards cat7a if there is only a few hundred pounds difference. Both Cat7 and Cat6 cables are relatively expensive than the Cat5, Cat5e. Relatively speaking, Cat7 cable is more expensive than Cat6 cable. If you cannot afford both of them, and then Cat5e would also be a good choice for 10G network.

According to the trend of network development, Cat7 cable is more appropriate for setting up a new house. The Cat7a network cable is particularly suitable for the new house. Under 40 Gigabit Ethernet, it will work up to 50 meters and under 100 Gigabit Ethernet, it is possible up to 15 meters. If you are in a tight budget, Cat6 and Cat5e cable would also be good choices.

Oznake: cat6 cable, cat6 ethernet cable, Cat7, Cat7 cable, cat7 vs cat6, cat6 vs cat7

As known to all, the fiber optic cables are divided into two types: singlemode and multimode, based on a completely different core diameter and mode of transmission. Singlemode fiber optic patch cables are called 9/125. This indicates the glass core is nine microns in diameter. The “125” is the size of the core plus the cladding (125 microns). Singlemode fiber optic patch cables can further be divided into simplex and duplex. This article would put emphasis on singlemode simplex and singlemode duplex fiber patches.

The ends of fiber patch are connected with connector plugs for connection of light circuit activity. If the cable has only one end terminated with connector while the other end ended with fiber, and then it is called pigtail. As we mentioned, the singlemode and multimode are two types of fiber patch cable. The diameter of the singlemode fiber core is 8Ľm~10Ľm. Fiber core is rounded with glass cover of lower refractive index than that of the fiber core, keeping the fiber inside the core. Outside the glass coating, it is a layer of thin plastic coating to protect the coating.

Compared to multimode fiber, singlemode fiber has a small loss in the long transmission distance. The potential of singlemode fiber's bandwidth makes it the only option for high-speed and long-distance data transmission. Simplex and duplex singlemode fiber cables are the further classification of singlemode patch cables. Simplex means this cable is with only one thread of fiber optic glass inside the single core. Duplex fiber cable can be regarded as two simplex cables, either singlemode or multimode, having their jackets conjoined by a strip of jacket material, usually in a zipcord (side-by-side) style. In the following figures and charts, we would give two groups of comparison about OS2 LC LC fiber patch cord (singlemode simplex and duplex) according to different polish type (UPC and APC).

Figure1: LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable Vs. LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable

Chart1: LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable Vs. LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable

Figure2: LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable Vs. LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable

Chart2: LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable Vs. LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable

According to the above pictures and charts, we figure out the differences between LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable and LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable, and between LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode simplex patch cable and LC/UPC-LC/UPC singlemode duplex patch cable based on the detailed parameter. In the simplex fiber patch, data is only supported in the one direction while the duplex patch allows the data to transmit in two directions.

Therefore, duplex communication is the combination of simplex single communications which requires that both sender and receiver have the independent ability of transmitting and receiving. Singlemode fiber patch cables are the best choice for transmitting data over long distances. They are usually used for connections over large areas, such as college campuses and cable television networks.

Oznake: LC to LC fiber cable, LC to LC fiber patch cable single mode, fiber optic cable, lc lc fiber patch cord

Optical fiber is made by glass or plastic, so it is easy to be bent. As is known to all, the main function of optical fiber is transmitting light. Once the fiber has been bent, there must be fiber loss during the process of transmission. New type of “bend-insensitive” singlemode and multimode fiber were introduced in 2007 and in 2009 respectively. This kind of fiber is specifically manufactured for the fibers could be bent in what seemed like impossibly small radii without significant light loss. This article would introduce the advantage and compatibility of bend insensitive fiber optic cables.

As being mentioned, bend insensitive fiber optic cables provide a effective solution for accidentally twisting or bending the cable. But what are they? "Bend Insensitive" or BI cable is designed to be resistant to bend related damage. BI fiber cable has a flex cycle count in the thousands, sometimes as high as 7,500 or more cycles. In addition, it has a much smaller bend radius, meaning it can tolerate tighter corners or being wrapped around cable management equipment.

Different from the regular fiber, bend-insensitive fiber adds a layer of glass around the core of the fiber which has a lower index of refraction that literally "reflects" the weakly guided modes back into the core when stress normally causes them to be coupled into the cladding. Some early singlemode fibers (depressed-cladding fibers) used a similar technology to contain the light in the core of the fiber but this design has a much stronger effect. The following picture shows the technique of bend-insensitive multimode fiber.

Compared to the normal fiber, bend-insensitive fiber has absolute predominance. In buildings, it allows fiber to be run inside molding around the ceiling or floor and around doors or windows without inducing high losses. It is also insurance against problems caused by careless installation. In patch panels, it should not suffer from bending losses where the cables are tightly bent around the racks. BI fibers are also available in 50/125 MM (OM3 and OM4) and SM versions. Considering the advantages of BI fiber and the small incremental cost to manufacture it, some manufacturers have decided to make all their 50/125 MM fiber bend-insensitive fiber.

The answer is yes for SM fibers. Since only one mode is guided in the core, the trench has a minimal impact on system performance and measurement. It seems you can mix and match regular and BI SMF fibers with no problems. For MM fibers, it is still needed to be proved. Owing to the limitation of the current technology, the compatibility with MMF is not so sure so far. Measurement of core size, NA, differential mode delay (DMD) and bandwidth were developed prior to the introduction of BI MMF designs. These measurements are in the process of being evaluated and updated so measurement results may depend on the manufacturer of the BI MMF.

Bend-insensitive fiber has been widely applied in premises installations like apartment buildings or for patch cables, where it simplifies installation and use. BI SMF is also used in OSP cables since it allows fabrication of smaller, lighter high fiber count cables. Using bend-insensitive fiber cable, it is unnecessary to worry about the accidentally twisting or bending the cable.

Oznake: optical fiber, single mode fiber, multimode fiber, bend insensitive fiber

As one approach of the network agility and mobility lifting/increasing, Software Defined Networking (SDN) uses canned processes to provision the network. It is an emerging technology designed to address mobility and agility. An OpenFlow switch is a software program or hardware device that forwards packets in a SDN environment. With the popularity of SDN network, a lot of people puzzle about if it is necessary to use SDN network switch for SDN network. This article would give a brief introduction to SDN network and SDN switches, and provide a satisfied answer about the necessity of SDN switch for SDN network.

In a software defined networking system, canned processes are used to provision the network. For instance, users should be able to program the network when they want to build a tap, instead of building a network tap using an appliance. SDN makes the network programmable by separating the control plane (telling the network what goes where) from the data plane (sending packets to specific destinations). It relies on switches that can be programmed through an SDN controller using an industry standard control protocol, such as OpenFlow.

A OpenFlow/SDN switch, when it receives a packet, that it does not have a flow for (Match + exit port) will contact a SDN controller(Server) and ask what must it do with this packet. The controller can then download a flow to the switch, possibly including some packet manipulation. Once the flow is downloaded to the switch it will switch similar packets at wire-speed

Having a central server that knows the network layout and can make all the switching decisions and build the paths gives us new capabilities. The advantages of the SDN switches are listed in the below:

1.The SDN controller could route non critical/bulk traffic on longer routes that are not fully utilized.

2.The SDN controller could send the initial couple of packets to a firewall, and once the firewall is happy/accepts the flow, the SDN controller can bypass the firewall thus removing load from the FW and allowing multi-gigabit datacenters to be fire-walled.

3.The SDN controller can easily implement load-balancing also at high data rates by just directing different flows to different hosts, only doing the set-up of the initial flow's.

4.Traffic can be isolated without the need for vlan's, the SDN controller can just refuse certain connections.

5.Setup a network TAP/Sniffer easily for any port or even specific traffic by programming the network to send a duplicate stream to a network monitoring device.

6.It allows for the development of new services and ideas all in software on the SDN controller. OpenFlow-Actions.

SDN Switch Vs. Non-SDN switch

SDN switches are specially produced for SDN networking. A normal switch works independently of the rest of the network.

In a traditional optical switch device, packet forwarding and high-level routing are on the same device. An OpenFlow switch separates the data path from the control path. Separate controller makes high-level routing decisions. The switch and controller communicate by the OpenFlow protocol.

In the old switches you would have to go to the locations of the switch login to the command line and then configure it through the command line. With open flow enabled switches you could program the switch by sending commands through openflow messages. SDN controller helps you to program the switches. In other words, SDN controller uses openflow and gives you an interface to program the switched.

Special SDN data switches are not required to implement software-defined networks. SDN architectures will take many different approaches as they mature and change, and each technology vendor will have a unique take on how to implement SDN. For example, VMware, with its acquisition of Nicira, will implement SDN protocols in its Switch software, which does not require specialized hardware or a controller. Many suppliers are offering specific SDN controllers, such as OpenFlow controllers offered by Big Switch, NEC, HP and IBM, and controllers that are not OpenFlow-specific and use other protocols (offered by Cisco and Juniper).

Oznake: network switch, sdn switch, optical switch, data switch