Connection Hardware
10Base2 and 10Base5 cabling use special connection components, known as BNC connectors. BNC connector A hardware component used to make the connections between the cable and the computers. There are several components in the BNC family, such as:
The BNC cable connector
The BNC T connector
The BNC barrel connector
The BNC terminator
The twisting of the twisted-pair cable wire cancels out crosstalk from adjacent pairs of cable. The higher the number of twists per foot of cable, the more effectively it cancels out crosstalk.
The total number of pairs in a cable varies, depending on the purpose of the cable.
twisted-pair cable A type of cable that consists of two insulated strands of copper wire twisted around each other.
Two types of twisted-pair cable are:
unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
shielded twisted-pair (STP)
Of the two types, UTP cable is most prevalent. Its popularity can be attributed to the fact that most buildings are prewired for telephone service.
unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) A type of twisted-pair cabling that does not have an extra shielding layer to help eliminate noise interference. However, it is highly affordable.
shielded twisted-pair (STP) A type of twisted-pair cabling that uses a woven copper-braid jacket to protect the transmitted data from outside interference.
Twisted-pair cabling uses RJ-45 connectors, which are similar to RJ-11 telephone connectors, to connect to a computer.
In a fiber optic cable, pulses of light travel down extremely thin tubes of glass or plastic to transmit data.
The signal—a light pulse—can be transmitted over many miles very quickly. fiber optic cable A type of cable made up of extremely thin tubes of glass or plastic that allow pulses of light to travel through it to transmit data
The cabling you select depends on the needs of a particular site. To determine which type of cable is best, consider the following guidelines.
The NIC is the direct link between the computer and the cable. Choose NICs carefully by identifying the computer’s bus architecture and the connector type used on the network. Specialized NICs allow connections through different media.