As with anything that is not familiar to us, it is human nature to think that something mystical, or difficult to understand must be involved in the creation of that which is not familiar and already understood.

Let me take you on a journey back in time. Copper cable, of which we are all extremely familiar and comfortable with and which we originally experimented with in the 1750’s, really came on the scene back in the 1820’s with the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph system. And from that day on, everything that utilized an electrical or electronic signal used copper to carry it to and fro. By the way, copper has been in use at least 10,000 years, but more than 96% of all copper ever mined and smelted has been extracted since 1900, and more than half was extracted in only the last 24 years.

However, as the population continued to grow and with the advent of a device called the telephone in 1876, so did our demand for copper cabling. That need, and as it grew, helped generate some of the greatest technological breakthroughs so that copper could do more and more for us. From analog (continually variable) signals to digital (on or off, 1 or 0) signals used today. I won’t bore you with all the details, but have you ever thought about how that last phone call you made wound up being received by the one person it was intended for, when tens of millions of other people were doing the same thing at exactly the same time?

Like moths drawn to a bright light, those of us who barter in the handling of information keep coming back to the lessons of the Great Recession. We just can’t turn away, even after all this time. The recession was arguably the most significant mismanagement of information in recent history. There are many lessons to draw from, but these stand out foremost as illuminating examples in our field of IT in general and fiber connectivity in particular.  

Data security issues keep turning up like a bad penny.  

Last month, it was Home Depot. Before that, it was Target, where a hacker absconded with data belonging to 70 million individuals. Apple, the U.S. Federal Reserve, The Wall Street Journal, and even the ironclad U.S. National Security Agency have all been hacked into.

Copper cabling is slow, unstable, and prone to signal leakage and interference issues, all of which make it a risky proposition going forward. Here is what you need to know about your failing copper cabling, and what you can do about it.