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What Are Fiber Optic Cables Made Of?

Let’s look at the construction of fiber optic cables, which are one of the simplest yet most...

How FCOE Works

FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) is a storage protocol (or language) that lets fiber channel...

A Simple Guide to Fiber Cable Care & Maintenance

Minimize End-Face Contamination

The most basic ways to protect your fiber and maintain maximum...

Why You Should Be Labeling Your Networking Cables

Pretend for a moment that you're getting ready to expand your data center. You installed your new...

Data Center Hardware Installation Checklist

I always encourage our customers to consider cabling infrastructure before installing new hardware....

What is Port Replication and Why Should You Care?

I recently attended Dell Technologies World 2018 in Las Vegas, NV. As a representative of the data...

Cat6 Cabling: What is the BIG DEAL about AWG (American Wire Gauge)?

Why does the gauge matter in my network’s racks? I mean, I use standard Cat6 cabling, and it works...

Why Minimizing dB Loss in Fiber Cables is Important

What exactly is ‘dB loss?’

In fiber optics, data is transmitted via light pulses sent through thin...

Bend Insensitive Fiber Fact vs. Fiction Part 2: How BIF Improves the Performance of Your Cabling Infrastructure

Earlier this week I defined terms related to bend performance, such as bend insensitive fiber, bend...

Does 28-AWG Copper Cable Work with Power over Ethernet (POE)?

Wondering whether 28-AWG copper will work with Power over Ethernet (PoE)? In short, the answer is...

Keep It Simple When Installing Fiber Optic Cables

Deploying fiber optic cables can be daunting. Just uttering the words “fiber optic” makes some...

5 Most Common Causes of dB Loss in Fiber Optic Cabling

High dB loss in fiber optic cabling infrastructures can lead to downtime… and nobody wants that!...

How Back Reflection and Insertion Loss Affects Data Center Performance

What is Back Reflection?

Back reflection (also referred to as optical return loss or ORL) is an...

Cabling for Inter-Chassis Links (ICLs)

As is often the case with layer one connectivity, the cabling for inter-chassis links (ICLs) can be...

5 Reasons Why IT Professionals Choose Fiber Optic Cables Instead of Copper

When you are building a network that requires long distances, high speeds, and/or heavy bandwidth...

What is Structured Cabling? and Why You Should Care

In the cable world, the term structured cabling gets thrown around often. People use it as a...

The Difference Between Rails with M6 and Rails with 10/32 Tapped Holes

Have you ever laid awake at night pondering the difference between M6 and 10/32 tapped holes?

Best Practices for Handling Fiber Optic Cabling

Glass is very fragile. Evidence of this is in the plethora of options for shipping preparations and...

Tips for Determining Transceiver and Fiber Cable Selection

When trying to determine what transceivers and fiber cable to use in your installation, determining...

What is Fiber Optic Insertion Loss?

In its simplest terms, insertion loss is the amount of light that is lost as the signal arrives at...