Benchmarking is a term that is used widely to evaluate one's performance against a standard, which is typically based on the best organizations or processes in your industry. In most cases, the goals of benchmarking are often centered around key factors such as quality, time, and cost. In the performance of fiber optic communications systems, benchmarking generally applies to the performance quality of the information provided, but on a second level has an extremely significant impact on both time and cost.