* Standing at the crossroads of copper, fiber and wireless
Several factors are coming together in the LAN world that are going to push cabling in one direction or another, but it’s unclear – to me, at least – what will win out.
The universal standard LAN connection for desktop computers these days is Category-5E unshielded twisted-pair wiring, which was developed mainly as a conduit for Gigabit Ethernet over copper. In this respect, it has been quite successful, and Gigabit Ethernet is well on its way to being the de facto standard for desktop connections.
However, if you’re considering the next step, if you believe that 10 Gigabit Ethernet may one day be desirable on desktop computers, Category-5E may not cut it. You’re probably in for a wiring upgrade to Category-6 cabling, at the very least.
And if you’re going to have to put in all new wiring anyway, perhaps you’d go with fiber-optic lines instead and avoid the “Category-Whatever” upgrade path altogether.
In the midst of this dilemma comes wireless LAN technology, which keeps getting faster all the time. There’s a good chance you’re already running some WLAN (or “Wi-Fi”) in your home network because it makes things so much easier. It’s easy to install and it gives you freedom of movement within your home.
Granted, the 54M bit/sec that you might be getting is a heck of a lot less than the Gigabit Ethernet or 10 Gigabit Ethernet that is available, but the industry is working on increasing that speed to triple digits. And for the vast majority of us, that’s plenty.
It’s also plenty for the vast majority of office workers, which would imply that WLANs would be the way to go for many offices as well, provided that environmental interference is dealt with.
So it seems like we’re approaching a crossroads. Do we use WLANs for our desktops and upgrade the access points as faster speeds become available? Or do we wire with Category-6 cabling to plan for eventual 10 Gigabit Ethernet, knowing that we won’t get much beyond that? Or do we finally take the plunge into fiber?
The answer may be one of the above, or it could be all three. Let me know what you think at mailto:jcaruso@nww.com
