Understanding the performance of optical fiber and copper wire can make a better choice. So what characteristics do optical fiber and copper wire have?

1. Copper wire characteristics
In addition to the above-mentioned good anti-interference, confidentiality, and convenient installation/maintenance/management of copper wire, it has good flexibility and emergency power supply capability, even if the power is exhausted, it can continue to supply power to the equipment.

2. Fiber characteristics
In addition to the high bandwidth and long transmission distance mentioned above, the optical fiber also has low attenuation, good reliability, durability and safety, and because the optical fiber is an insulator, it will not be affected by electromagnetic interference and crosstalk. Laying beside industrial equipment.

From a technical point of view, the appropriate data center transmission media type can be selected based on the following three factors:

1. What is the ability of the medium to transmit signals?
In other words, can it be protected from other signals, and what is the anti-interference performance? If the wiring environment is bad or the anti-interference ability is high, choose optical fiber.

2. Do you need to supply power via cable?
It can be seen from the above that the copper wire can be used for power supply. If power supply through the cable is required, copper wire is selected.

3. How about portability or mobility issues?
If you need to change and move frequently, you can choose a fiber with bending sensitivity.

In addition to the above two points, are there other factors to consider? The answer is “yes”. In addition to the two basic factors mentioned above, it is also necessary to choose according to the type of user, such as system integrator, contractor and end user. There are big differences between these three:

System integrator: product familiarity and current templates;
Contractor: suitability, scale and availability;
End user: recent history (through project experience or marketing exposure);

For each user, it is very important to consider the key factors. It is not allowed to be ignored or avoid history or technology, because we must consider the type of user to select the appropriate fiber or copper wire for wiring.

Under normal circumstances, when ultra-large bandwidth and long-distance transmission are required (such as industrial Ethernet cabling), optical fiber can be selected. In the case of short distance and low transmission rate (such as in a building or corporate office), copper wire is more preferred. Appropriate, of course, you can also choose a mix and match according to the actual situation of the user.