In this video, we're going to talk about network media. Network media provides the connectivity, and the path for the communications to travel over in a network, typically, in today's network. Most of the connections are made either wirelessly, which goes through the air and obviously, doesn't have a physical media, or with copper connectivity. The most common type of connectivity in an Ethernet network is using unshielded twisted pair, or UTP for short. Twisted pair cabling is made up of a series of wires, in the case of most Ethernet cables, eight wires, that are arranged in pairs. And each pair is color coded, so that you can have the same pattern on either end of the cable. The connectors themselves provide the copper connectivity between the devices. For example, a network interface card, or a port on a switch or a router, and the cabling. It's very important that the connectors are seeded well, and actually are installed according to specific standards. This type of a connector is called an RJ-45 connector and it works for almost all of the Ethernet cables that are used in today's network. In addition to this type of cabling, we also have coaxial copper cabling. Now coaxial cables should be familiar to most of you because it's typically how cable TV is connected. In this particular cable, we have a BNC type connector. We can also use screw on F type connectors to connect coaxial cable. Coaxial cable differs significantly from twisted pair cable in that coaxial cable has a single, solid, copper core that traverses the entire length of the cable. And it's across that copper core that the communications occurs. If I were to remove the connector from this coaxial cable, the solid copper core is surrounded by a plastic material that helps to insulate and shield it. It also will have a mesh of metal that provide some shielding against electromagnetic interference. In addition to copper cabling in today's network, you often have, for long distances, fiber optic cable. The one I'm holding in my hand is a short distance fiber optic cable, that would normally be used to connect networking equipment within a building. The fiber optic cable is made of either glass or plastic, and it has a solid core that is surrounded by a second layer of glass or plastic to provide the reflective surface to carry these patterns of light. Now, because there is no copper in here and because the fiber optic cable carries only light waves, you don't have to worry about fiber optic cable being affected by electromagnetic interference. That's a big advantage over any type of copper cable. Another advantage of using fiber optics is that fiber optics can carry the light signals for a much longer distance than most copper cabling. So if I have a long distance to go, say, miles, I will probably choose a fiber optic connection. Because there are different types of fiber optic cables, and different types of devices that drive and create the light signals, fiber optics can do a lot of different things, has a lot more flexibility than copper cable. In that I can have a lot of variation in the types of speed that each fiber optic cable would support.