In the mad rush to increase network speed, it is important to stop, take a deep breath, and consider where you are going. For good business reasons, most companies are committed to building a high-speed backbone and extending it to the desktop. However, the road to successful high-speed deployment is full of curves and hazards. This article is the first part of a 7 part roadmap that points out some of the potential rough spots.

Mistake #1: Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater

Even if they accept the argument that fiber is the way to future proof their network, too many managers see migration to fiber as an all-or-nothing proposition. That is an expensive strategy. In fact, the cost of a massive upgrade is the main reason so many companies are going with the "nothing" strategy and are still installing Category 5E, Category 6 or looking at Category 7 cable. The common complaint is that, while they see the advantage of going to fiber, they simply cannot do a forklift upgrade or throw out so many miles of installed copper.

So what's the problem? Do the upgrade on the installment plan, a department at a time. There is no reason to toss the installed copper base along with all of its associated electronics. Keep it in place, let it do its job, and plan to keep downgrading the importance of the copper plant as technology advances. Meantime, install optical fiber each and every time the network has to be upgraded. Simply link the copper cable with the fiber cable (using media conversion technology) and rest assured that those on the network are enjoying the best and fastest networking available without worrying about a call from the financial department about wasting money.

Before the advent of media conversion, this was a bigger deal. However, in the past couple of years many people who are upgrading to high speed backbones have discovered that media converters work, work well and work cheaply. Since humans began using machinery, they have been adapting one thing to another. Media converters can solve the problem by providing a transparent link between twisted pair horizontal cable and the fiber backbone without requiring new cable or replacement of expensive equipment.

For most applications, the economical answer to linking fiber, copper and/or coax is media conversion. Media conversion is the means by which one media type is converted to another media type. Changes in networking equipment driven by the ongoing quest for increased bandwidth, and structured cabling limitations, have helped define the need for media conversion technology. As routers, switches and other network devices evolve at a furiously fast pace, network administrators must develop ways to keep up. This constant migration places demands on both human and financial resources.

Put simply, media converters make one cable "look" like another cable—without changing the nature of your network. A media converter is a small device with two media dependent interfaces and a power supply. They can be installed almost anywhere in your network environment, expanding, rather than limiting your options. Your networking infrastructure, and thus, your investment is protected. Adapting new media types, such as fiber optics, does not require costly hardware upgrades.

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