Modern optical fiber cables contain multimode gradient fibers (code letter "G") or singlemode fibers (code letter "E"). In highly simplified terms, several different light beams (modes) travel simultaneously on different paths through the fiber in the case of multimode fibers, and only one in the case of singlemode fibers.

Structured Cabling: The demand for vendor independent and neutral cabling led to the international standard ISO/IEC 11801 with it’s European version EN 50173. These standards define a structured cabling which shall be designed ndependent of the use or dedication of rooms or any network technology. 

More and more building technology applications come with an IP port: Video surveillance, access control, time recording, lighting, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, blinds, WiFi, cordless telephone and smart phones (DAS), sensor networks, ... the list grows nearly every day. EN 50173-6 specifies the appropriate cabling for this.

In data centers, fiber optic cables for high data rates have become standard. Most commonly used are OM3 and OM4 fibers which can transmit data rates of 10, 40 and 100 Gbps according to the standard IEEE 802.3.  Highest quality, flexibility and minimum disruptions at the same time are the demands for today’s data center infrastructure.

Many an IT cabling is made up of individual components of different manufacturers. According to the principle of "a lot helps a lot", users, planners and professional installers select components with very high individual values. But instead of the efficient infrastructure they hope for, they often get much poorer results with these mix & match solutions than with a cabling consisting of adapted system components of one product series with less spectacular individual values. This is not surprising when one asks critically what the individual values mean.

The trend to ever-higher transmission rates is growing due to rapidly increasing use of intelligent mobile devices. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) in response to these needs has developed new variants of Ethernet such as 25GBASE-T with 25 Gbit/s and 40GBASE-T with 40 Gbit/s using copper twisted-pair-cabling. Due to the more stringent requirements on insertion loss budget, the link length becomes limited to a maximum of only 30 metres. Therefore, both new Ethernet variants are primarily designed for data centres, server rooms, and connections between switches.

Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+) sets high standards. The RJ45 has been around for over 40 years. Since Power over Ethernet was introduced at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the RJ45 has not only been transmitting data but has also been providing power to the end devices. Given the high electric currents which occur with the present Power over Ethernet Plus (PoE+), the contacts on the RJ45 jack can quickly be damaged. The RJ45 jacks must be designed for PoE+ in order to provide a reliable and safe service otherwise transmission errors can arise and, at worst, complete link failures.