Media conversion maximizes network resources

Technological forces are coming together to make life unusually difficult for many IT leaders. Let's face it, the combination of cloud computing, big data, virtualization and mobile device use are all wonderful from a business perspective. They are, however, challenging for IT to deal with. The long-term potential of these technologies is incredible, even for corporate IT departments. The short-term vision, however, is one of change. Shifting the IT environment for new technologies is not exactly easy, especially when it comes to the network. As a result, many businesses have to make major changes to how the network functions, making media converters and similar tools vital for maximizing resources.

The network is changing
Emerging technologies are changing the way organizations have to look at the network. In the past, many businesses simply established a solid network and ran with it until major bandwidth upgrades were needed and then built a new one. The infrastructure did not really play a strategic role in operations and the telecom service options were often far more important than internal network capabilities. In many cases, major network upgrades would only happen once every five or 10 years. This is especially true when it comes to cabling.

Emerging technologies are changing this static approach because they push bandwidth requirements beyond what many businesses can handle. As a result, the network has emerged as a strategic enabler instead of functioning as a background facilitator. This, however, requires major changes in how the network is established. This is where media converters step in and come to the rescue.

Understanding the core networking problem
Many businesses are straddling the line between needing fiber-optic cabling and being able to get by with copper. This is especially true in parts of the data center, backhaul and building automation networks. In such settings, cost is the main reason why companies cannot go all fiber, as performance needs are often extremely high. The problem is that cost is a major barrier, especially in the current economic climate. In response, the best option is to use fiber where it is absolutely necessary, such as some data center storage networks, but stick with copper in other aspects of the infrastructure. This helps organizations maximize their network and fiscal resources, but is only possible through the use of media conversion. This makes media conversion a key enabler in the contemporary network climate.

Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.