Which physical medium is commonly used for backbone connections between switches in the described network?

Which physical medium is commonly used for backbone connections between switches in the described network?

• A. Cat 5e cable
• B. Coaxial cable
• C. Cat 8 cable
• D. Wireless

Answer: (C)

Choosing a medium for switch-to-switch backbones requires very high bandwidth with low latency, since the backbone must carry the aggregated traffic of many devices without becoming a bottleneck. Cat8 copper twisted pair is built for the highest Ethernet speeds today, delivering up to 40 Gbps over short runs (about 30 meters) and using tighter shielding and higher frequency support to reduce crosstalk and signal loss in dense backbone deployments. In contrast, Cat5e tops out around 1 Gbps and wouldn’t meet backbone needs, coaxial is largely a legacy option for modern Ethernet, and wireless cannot provide the deterministic, low-latency performance required for a reliable switch-to-switch backbone. So Cat8 is the best fit for high-speed backbone connections between switches.

Choosing a medium for switch-to-switch backbones requires very high bandwidth with low latency, since the backbone must carry the aggregated traffic of many devices without becoming a bottleneck. Cat8 copper twisted pair is built for the highest Ethernet speeds today, delivering up to 40 Gbps over short runs (about 30 meters) and using tighter shielding and higher frequency support to reduce crosstalk and signal loss in dense backbone deployments. In contrast, Cat5e tops out around 1 Gbps and wouldn’t meet backbone needs, coaxial is largely a legacy option for modern Ethernet, and wireless cannot provide the deterministic, low-latency performance required for a reliable switch-to-switch backbone. So Cat8 is the best fit for high-speed backbone connections between switches.