With businesses spreading their wings across the globe for newer and better prospects, resources, and customers, the need for optimally utilizing technological advancements has increased tremendously. Network and telecommunication have a huge role to play in this. High speed internet connectivity and seamless communication over long geographical distances are aspects which businesses demand today as they are drivers of growth and productivity. Most businesses still use copper scale legacy networks which is not sufficient for long-distance transmission, sending bulky files, live streaming of videos, online meetings, and so on. Also, they have issues with signal strength and speed. For instance, even if we use Cat6 cables for long distance transmission, the speed is likely to get slow over time or the signals may attenuate. This is where fiber optics is gaining traction as all these shortcomings are eliminated. Fiber optics offers high speed. Long distance transmission over a distance of up to 100km or beyond without any issues such as signal attenuation, electromagnetic interference, or even hacking. This post discusses the contribution of fiber optics in boosting businesses through rapid data transmission, seamless connectivity, and more.
What is a Fiber Optic Network and Why is it so Significant?
In a typical legacy network, data is transferred in the form of electric signals over a UTP copper cable or an Ethernet cable, mostly Cat5e or Cat6 along with a router or switch and computers as well as other devices on the network such as phones, cameras, and so on. These are converted into analog signals at the receiving end. During transmission, the signals may weaken or the data transmission may be delayed due to noise and crosstalk. Moreover, the transmission distance here can be increased only up to a few meters, and there may be data security concerns too. On the other hand, fiber optics eliminates all these issues. It transfers signals in the form of light pulses which are converted to analog signals at the receiving end. This eliminates issues such as EMI, crosstalk, and so on. Also, fiber optics is difficult to hack and hence more secure. But the best part is that you can blend fiber optics with your existing legacy network. This helps increase the transmission distance, speed, connectivity, and security of your existing network in a limited budget.
There has been increasing demand for fiber optics in business applications. They are used in LAN applications as well as remote applications such as video conferencing. Are you intrigued to know how video conferencing experience can be enhanced using fiber optics? Read the next section to know answer.
How Fiber Optics Helps Improve Video Conferencing Experiences?
In 2020, video communication has become an integral part of our daily lives. From informal video calls to business video conferences to e-learning to e-medicine, everything relies on video conferencing. With strict restrictions imposed on human movements, video conferencing has emerged as an important communication medium. With it being the most effective option available to you, what if you start experiencing issues regularly during the video conferencing? It certainly does take a toll on end users like students taking online lessons and businesses meeting clients or people talking to estranged family members. The following are some challenges that you may experience during the video conferencing.
- Lack of Bandwidth: Video signals consume a large section of bandwidth. As the video data packets are bulky, the lack of bandwidth is often suffered when multiple video devices are connected to the network or the distance of video transmission is beyond limits.
- Loss of Data Packets: IP video transmission often suffers the loss of data packets due to cellular type of data transmission. Lost data packets result in buffering and poor quality video display.
Fiber optics products like the ones discussed below are proven to help in enhancing video conferencing experiences by overcoming the above-discussed challenges.
- Fiber Optics-Based Video Solutions: Fiber optic cables offer comparatively high bandwidth with minimal attenuation. Therefore, utilizing fiber optics video solutions can assure high speed, buffer-free video signal transmission without loss of data packets. The fiber optics modems can be installed to trigger the transmission speed after a specific distance in order to gain long-distance video transmission. Today, you can find fiber optics video kits featuring fiber optic cables, a transmitter, a receiver, and a media converter.
- Media Converters: Fiber optic media converters can be used to transmit video signals from analog devices. Analog video signals are in the electronic form. The media converters translate the signals into an optical format in order to transmit the data via fiber optics cables.
Managed Switches: These switches can be used in the video network to enable live stream or live video conferencing prioritization. By using managed switches, the operator would gain complete control over video configuration and transmission of the video signals. This can help in improving video and audio quality during live video communication.
Video conferencing is only one application of fiber optics, however, businesses are using them in many ways. The next section introduces you to few such applications.
A Few More Growth Driving Business Applications of Fiber Optics
Over the last few years, fiber optics has helped drive business growth and create opportunities in various ways. Its high speed and connectivity has brought about revolutionary changes across diverse sectors such as medicine, defense, electronics & telecommunication, supply chain management, heavy engineering, and so on. Here are some pointers which prove its usefulness and significance.
- Fiber optics has been successfully used in medical science in developing laparoscopes. This equipment has enhanced diagnostics as a segment and made surgical procedures less invasive. Nowadays, it is being effectively used in telemedicine which features online consultations and treatments with doctors based in faraway locations.
- Remote access to networks and our office computers has facilitated work from home which is gaining much traction. Accessing remote networks through VPN and maintaining consistent speed and signal strength through the day is possible because of fiber optics.
- Supply chain management is a very dynamic segment, and fiber optics here has helped things move even faster. This encompasses robust navigation and tracking systems, vendor tracking, product availability, and online payments. Using effective sales and distribution and CRM software, plenty of data analyses can be done.
- Fiber optics has been successfully implemented in networks in the defense sector as it can withstand the harsh environments of this sector such as extreme temperatures, lightning, and so on, and offers the required security. There are fiber optic guided missiles and weapon systems being used. Fiber optics and sensors have been effectively used in their surveillance systems. Fiber optic gyroscopes are being used in navigation systems and sensing equipment in avionics.
Tapping into unexplored potential is one of the drivers of business growth, and this may mean exploring new market segments, making new products, and so on. These areas require robust and seamless connectivity as you need to understand new markets or advertise a new product across the globe. This emphasizes on the importance of fiber optics as an indirect driver of business growth. If you are a business owner looking to expand your network, opting for a blended network may be beneficial as it allows you to retain the legacy network and connect it with fiber optics. If you need to source network devices, ensure you do so from a trusted player. VERSITRON is one of the leading manufacturers of fiber optic network devices such as fiber optic modems, network switches, media converters, and installation kits in the US.
