Bandwidth requirements spur fiber optics growth in premise wiring space

Sept. 12, 2001

Sept. 12, 2001--As end users attempt to transport more data at faster rates through a pair of wires, the quality and capabilities of those wires becomes increasingly important.

The information intensity of society is increasing the long-term demand for premise wiring. As end users attempt to transport more data at faster rates through a pair of wires, the quality and capabilities of those wires becomes increasingly important.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Premise Wiring Media Markets, reveals that, despite an expected 25 percent growth rate for the total number of units shipped, a slow revenue ascension from $1.6 billion in 2000 to $1.9 billion by 2007 is expected.

New enhanced versions of cabling are encouraging upgrades. Category 5 enhanced and Category 6 copper cables offer end users higher bandwidth than lower levels such as Category 3 and Category 5. However, it is fiber optic cable, with its practically limitless bandwidth capacities and declining price, that is becoming the more attractive alternative.

"Fiber optic cables are increasingly important as the additions of workstations to networks continue and multimedia applications become more bandwidth intensive," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Kim Antonaccio. "The three most important factors for enterprises to consider when trying to choose the cabling that best fit their needs are cost, connectivity and bandwidth."

Companies are installing more cable than currently required to ensure the capability to meet future needs. It is much more expensive to install extra cabling later as opposed to during the initial installation. Therefore, many customers are taking proactive steps to have additional cable installed to accommodate the increased number of users and more bandwidth intensive applications.

"Enterprises are demanding cable that will ease the implementation of data-intensive multimedia applications such as video streaming and video conferencing," says Antonaccio. "Fiber optic lines can handle the demand for bandwidth from the convergence of voice, data, and video applications that is expected by the enterprise market."

Staying abreast of technology is also a critical success factor in the premises wiring industry. Failure to keep up with the new technology could cause an industry participant to go out of business.

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