Cat 5 Cable

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a connection of computers within a small area like a building, home or office. Each machine over a LAN performs its own function but at the same time resources of the other computers or machines could also be accessed depending on the permissions allowed. This remote sharing includes data sharing and you can even communicate with other users.

Token ring, FDDI and Ethernet are three important technologies of a LAN. In an Ethernet LAN usually coaxial cable and twisted pair wires are used. In token ring LAN all the computers are connected with a ring topology. The collision of data is prevented by using token-passing scheme. The FDDI works on token ring technology and there are in all two token rings, one is the primary ring and other is the secondary ring. The secondary ring is used as a back up in case the primary ring fails.

But when these networks are formed and data is exchanged between various machines, an obvious question that strikes the mind is what is the medium of data transfer?. The computers are connected to each other through some cables or wires called LAN network cables. The use of LAN network cables facilitates easy exchange of data and the files or it can be said that data is exchanged with a greater speed. They are used for quick and easy peer-to-peer file transfer through USB port.

Whenever your machine faces a network problem and spends hours to troubleshoot it, you will naturally feel annoyed when you come to know that the reason was the cable. LAN cables are also called Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP). These UTPs are of two types, solid or stranded. The solid UTP conductor is made up of a solid wire and the stranded UTP conductor is divided into a number of smaller wires. The stranded cables are generally more flexible and you can easily bend them into any direction, used where frequent plugging and unplugging is required. Stranded cable is a bit expensive. LAN cable can run up to 100 meters.

The USB DirectLink cable is a LAN network cable and is used for easy and faster exchange of data. The data or files are exchanged on peer-to-peer basis through the USB port. The data transfer rate is 12 Mbps. It facilitates easy and faster connection of two computers with the USB port. Some more features of this LAN cable include:

* It supports Win 95 OSR2/98/ 98SE/ME/2000/XP operating systems

* No extra power adapters are required

* Designed to avoid short circuit damage.