Wires and Fibers

Today, there are two main cable types recommended for mission-critical networks: twisted-pair copper and fiber optic-based cables (discussed in more detail next).

Copper Cabling

Today most comprehensive local network infrastructures are based on so-called twisted-pair copper cable. This type of cable has been around for quite a while. In fact, early telephone signals were sent over a type of twisted-pair cable, and just about every building today is still equipped with twisted-pair cable to carry telephone and other signals.

Compared with fiber optic and coaxial copper cable, twisted-pair is much easier to install, and therefore cheaper. Over the years, however, signals have become more complex, evolving from 1.2 Kbps to over ...

Get SAP Hardware Solutions: Servers, Storage, and Networks for mySAP.com now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.