Many network specialists know the importance of switch hub technology. These devices sort all the data sent to them and then distributes them in a very organized manner across the network. You should always make use of switch hub technology, even when working with smaller networks. The advantages are just too much to not consider.

Fiber Optic technology as been around for a long time and still today it is extremely streamlined. It works by carrying light pulses instead of electrical signals and reflecting light pulses back to the core. As you can imagine, this provides an extremely fast and reliable connection method. In most cases the speed is around 17gbps, which is huge when compare to 1000mbps of standard networks these days.

When buying a fiber optic switch, you should take the following into consideration:

Single Mode Fiber
This technology carries a single ray of light. They support high bandwidth needs, and are typically about 10gbps over a distance of about 60km.

Multi Mode Fiber
This fiber technology transmits Ethernet packets over a glass fiber medium. The speeds typically range from 10mbps to 10gbps. The length is usually up to about 600 meters.

SFP
A modular insert for fiber technology which contains an optical receiver, and makes use of standard fiber connectors. You can easily upgrade or modify them to support different types of fiber optic connections.

A fiber optic switch operates by physically shifting an optical fiber to drive one or more alternative fibers. It can also operate by other methods, such as magneto-optic effects or electro-optic effects. Basically, it is allowing optical fibers or IOC’s (integrated optical circuits) to selectively be switched from one circuit to another.