Is your network ready for the challenges of the new millennium? Keep a close eye on the 10 technology issues we analyze below, which will affect network design and purchasing strategies in the next few years.

No. 1: Fiber to the Desktop
Is it time to consider fiber to the desktop? Yes. Should it be a requirement for your next building wiring plant? Probably not. Fiber to the desktop eliminates cabling problems that stem from noisy environments and low-quality patch panels. But fiber also requires more delicate installation procedures. Furthermore, most PC users have no need for bandwidth beyond 100 Mbps, and their PCs typically lack the I/O bandwidth to drive more than 100 Mbps anyway.

Although cost and complexity have in the past prohibited widespread acceptance of fiber at the desktop level, fiber-optic cabling has reached price equilibrium with traditional Category 5 cable on a foot-per-foot basis. While fiber-optic installation requires careful termination and polishing--an expensive and time-consuming process--recent innovations from Hewlett-Packard Co., Siemens AG, Siecor (a joint venture of Siemens and Corning) and 3M are slowly closing the price gap between fiber optics and traditional copper wiring.

For example, HP's MT-RJ connector, which closely resembles a traditional RJ-45 connector, was designed in concert with AMP, Fujikura America, USCONEC and Siecor to replace the SC fiber-optic connector, today's popular choice for LAN fiber connections.

The new MT-RJ connector is less than half the size of the SC duplex connector, so vendors working on high-density RJ-45 devices can now develop equivalent fiber-based devices without retooling their switch layouts. Furthermore, the higher density lets vendors offer fiber-optic technology at much lower prices. Finally, as a new technology, MT-RJ connectors benefit from all the most recent advances in power reduction and EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding, resulting in lower temperatures, less electrical interference and quicker time to market. This means a lower price per port on fiber-optic connections.

3M--in conjunction with Corning and Siemens--offers a similar fiber-cabling solution called Volition, or VF-45. Like the MT-RJ, the VF-45 connector is interchangeable with RJ-45 connectors; however, the VF-45 can withstand more cable deflection and insertion wear and tear than its HP counterpart, making it more suitable for desktop applications. At the desktop, Phobos Corp. and Racore Technology Corp. have introduced 100-Mbps NICs with VF-45 connectors that list for about $200 each, or about $100 to $120 more than an equivalent copper connector.

Both connectors reduce the amount of work needed to terminate individual fibers, thanks to pre-polished cables and simplified termination equipment, thus significantly trimming the overall cost of cabling with fiber. In fact, a Network Computing reader recently told us that a quote for deploying an entire fiber wiring plant was only 37 percent higher than for Category 5 cabling. Likewise, vendors anticipate fiber ports in the $200-to-$500-per-port range that is typical of many copper wiring products.