West Penn Wire Blog

In the ever-increasing reach of today’s video security and surveillance systems, many security professionals are finding that the quality, bandwidth, and distance needed to perform even the most basic surveillance is beyond the reach of coaxial and UTP cabling. Even though IP-based video security systems are gaining popularity, they face a serious distance limitation of 100 meters (328ft) or less over UTP cabling infrastructure. This poses an insurmountable hurdle when trying to monitor the many outreach locations of a typical surveillance installation. 

Topics: Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optic, Security Products

As fiber optic cable has become more affordable and data rates are growing, many project managers and IT professionals are starting to ask, "When should I use fiber optic cable?"

Below are some questions to ask to help understand when to potentially switch to/use fiber optic cable:

 

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optics Assemblies, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Fiber, Fiber Optic

This year's winter weather has been far from pleasant from coast-to-coast thus far. With the polar vortex that took place in January and high speed winds, there have been many power outages, cabling issues and more. With frigid temperatures and a record low of -50 degrees in certain parts of the country, how does this affect our cabling, especially fiber optic cable?

Topics: Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Fiber, Fiber Optic

This year marks the first year that West Penn Wire published blog posts on a regular basis, a total of 20 blogs this year ranging from basic cable information to systems with greater detail.

Topics: Category Cable, Category 6A Cable, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Copper Cable, Armored Fiber Optics, Fiber Optic, fire alarm, fire alarm systems, fire detection systems

There has been a big change in the AV industry from the standard coax cables to networking cable solutions, known as category cables. Although Category 5 cables are still heavily used, many growing businesses are looking into faster solutions with Cat 6, Cat 6A Cat 7 and Fiber Optic cabling.

In this article, we will compare the differences between Cat 6, Cat 6A and Fiber Optic cable so that you can best decide what will suit your customers and business in the evolving AV industry.

Topics: Category Cable, Category 6A Cable, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optics, Fiber

Fiber optic cables have many advantages over traditional copper cables to help with ease of installation. When fiber optic cabling is discussed other terms such as attenuation rates and wavelengths are mentioned to understand how light effectively transmits through the cable. 

We examined discussed in length about fiber optics in previous blog posts, but in this particular article, we will dig deeper into wavelengths and how they affect the strength of the fibers.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber, Fiber Optic Connector, Fiber Optic

Fiber optic cable continue to integrate and revolutionize the spectrum of the cable capabilities in varying industries and will continue to trend forward. Although most understand standard copper cable more, fiber is the cleanest and faster for transmitting communication and data signals. It also can offer the highest capacity of connection for any network.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optics Assemblies, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber, Fiber Optic

Fiber Optic cables offer a business many benefits for safe, fast installations with higher bandwidth frequencies. Fiber optic cables provide extreme pull tensions up to 600 lbs and a bend radius equal to coax cables. 

If loss of fiber does occur it can result in disrupted communications and negative effects to local businesses. Review the steps below in order to repair any tainted connections quickly and effectively.

Topics: Low Voltage Cables, Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber Optic Connector, Fiber Optic

This year is the first time West Penn Wire had a dedicated product knowledge blog displaying products, relative information and documents to help any customer understand West Penn Wire's popular products. 

Topics: Category Cable, Category 6A Cable, Fiber Optic Cable, Copper Cable, Armored Fiber Optics

Fiber optic cable has the ability to provide any business with safe, fast installations with higher bandwidth frequencies. In order to understand what fiber optic cable can do for your business or home, it's important to understand the basic construction.

Topics: Fiber Optic Cable, Fiber, Fiber Optic, cable construction