Re: Telecommunications Cabling and Fire Codes
Speaking as a wannabe-ex-computer geek, the changes in cabling are dictated by the bandwidth trying to be pushed through it. Right now 100 Megabits Per Second (100Mbps) is very common to desktops over Cat5, 5e, or 6. 1000Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet or GigE) is not unusual, but not as common due to costs - which are dropping rapidly.
The new "high speed" for Local Area Networks (LANs) is 10Gig or 10,000Mbps. I've read a few articles where manufacturers are figuring out how to do it over Cat5e or Cat6 but there's also some new cable called "twinax". Beyond 10Gig, is 40Gig.
My feeling is that eventually, probably within a decade or so, bandwidth will dictate fiber, and copper based networking will become obsolete.