Undoubtedly, the internet has become heavily ingrained in commercial applications. To run your business successfully, you need to be able to communicate faster with your clients online, save data to the cloud and generally have efficient operations on a daily basis. So if you own a start-up and are currently in the process of setting up your premises, you need to put careful consideration into what data cabling you will choose for your office. The two main options you can consider is copper cabling and fibre optic cabling. The following article seeks to enlighten you on how best you can establish your computer network's data cabling needs. 

Step 1: Determine your immediate bandwidth needs

Bandwidth requirements will vary from one business to another. The larger your company, the more bandwidth you will need. However, it does not hurt to have a large bandwidth even with a small company so that you can prevent lagging internet. So how do you determine the volume of bandwidth that you will require? Firstly, you need to establish the number of computer stations you will have for smooth operations of your business.

Secondly, you need to discern the volume of traffic that your computer data will be generating on a day-to-day basis. The higher the volume, the larger the bandwidth should be. While you can run a diagnostic test using a network analyser to give you an estimate of what bandwidth you will need, it is recommended to have this approximated by professional computer services that will have the capability to assess both your bandwidth usage as well as the traffic your business generates.

Step 2: Survey the cabling's environment

Once you know how much bandwidth your business requires, you may still be undecided on whether copper cabling or fibre optic will be suited to your business. Therefore, the second step in the process of determining the best cabling tailored to your needs is surveying the environment that it will be installed. Fibre optic cabling is capable of handling virtually any environmental conditions it is exposed to since they are intrinsically durable. Unless a vandal purposely cuts the fibre optic cables, chances are your business will never experience any network interference.

Copper cabling, on the other hand, is highly vulnerable to damage when it is exposed to climatic changes. The more the exposure, the higher the risk of deterioration and this subsequently leads to cabling replacement. Therefore, if you are not intent on enclosing the data cabling, you may want to opt for fibre optic cabling.