MPO/MTP Solutions for High Density Applications

As the bandwidth demands grow rapidly, data centers have to achieve ultra-high density in cabling to accommodate all connections. MPO/MTP technology with multi-fiber connectors offers ideal conditions for high-performance data networks in data centers. This article will introduce information about MPO/MTP solutions, such as MPO/MTP trunk cable, MPO/MTP harness cable and MPO/MTP cassettes.

MTP/MPO Trunk Cable

MTP/MPO trunk cables are terminated with the MTP/MPO connectors (as shown in the following figure). Trunk cables are available with 12, 24, 48 and 72 fibers. MTP/MPO trunk cables are designed for data center applications. The plug and play solutions uses micro core cable to maximize bend radius and minimize cable weight and size. Besides, MTP/MPO trunk cables also have the following advantages:

• Saving installation time–With the special plug and play design, MTP/MPO trunk cables can be incorporated and immediately plugged in. It greatly helps reduce the installation time.
• Decreasing cable volume–MTP/MPO trunk cables have very small diameters, which decrease the cable volume and improve the air-conditioning conditions in data centers.
• High quality–MTP/MPO trunk cables are factory pre-terminated, tested and packed along with the test reports. These reports serve as long-term documentation and quality control.

MPO/MTP Harness Cable

MPO/MTP harness cable (as shown in the following figure) is also called MPO/MTP breakout cable or MPO/MTP fan-out cable. This cable has a single MTP connector on one end that breaks out into 6 or 12 connectors (LC, SC, ST, etc.). It’s available in 4, 6, 8, or 12 fiber ribbon configurations with lengths about 10, 20, 30 meters and other customized lengths. MPO/MTP harness cable is designed for high density applications with required high performance. It’s good to optimize network performance. Other benefits are shown as below:

• Saving space–The active equipment and backbone cable is good for saving space.
• Easy deployment–Factory terminated system saves installation and network reconfiguration time.
• Reliability–High standard components are used in the manufacturing process to guarantee the product quality.

MPO/MTP Cassette

MPO/MTP cassette modules provide secure transition between MPO/MTP and LC or SC discrete connectors. They are used to interconnect MPO/MTP backbones with LC or SC patching. MPO/MTP Cassettes are designed to reduce installation time and cost for an optical network infrastructure in the premises environment. The modular system allows for rapid deployment of high density data center infrastructure as well as improved troubleshooting and reconfiguration during moves, adds and changes. Except for that, it has other advantages reflected in these sides:

• MPO/MTP interface–MPO/MTP components feature superior optical and mechanical properties.
• Optimized performance–Low insertion losses and power penalties in tight power budget, high-speed network environments.
• High density–12 or 24 fiber cassettes can be mounted in 1U scaling up to 72 or in 3U scaling up to 336 discrete LC connectors.

The above shows that the MPO/MTP system is a good solution for data center requirements. This high density, scalable system is designed to enable thousands of connections. Fiberstore offers a wide range of MPO/MTP trunk cables, harness cables and cassettes (or patch panels).

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/mpomtp-solutions-for-high-density-applications.html

How to Reduce the FTTx Roll-Out Cost?

With the increasing challenge to provide higher levels of broadband access to more demanding customers, the management of the physical network infrastructure, fiber to the x (FTTx), to enable new services is an increasingly critical part of the telecommunication operational landscape. FTTx is a collective term for various optical fiber delivery topologies that are categorized according to where the fiber terminates, including FTTN (fiber to the node or fiber to the neighbourhood), FTTC (fiber to the curb or fiber to the cabinet), FTTH (fiber to the home), etc.

Since the demand for the higher broadband is becoming eager, many countries are rolling out FTTx networks at even faster rates. As a result, there is an critical requirement to support quick, cost effective design and build of FTTx networks. According to some experienced network operators, there are some methods to reduce the FTTx roll out cost introduced below.

First and foremost, before you roll out FTTx network, you must take time to do a research that whether others has a more cost-effective way to do it. If yes, you can learn from others so that you will save a lot of energy and money. Then you should make a solid plan and ensure the procurement well-prepared. Last, you can validate your plan and stick to it after making sure that everything is in control.

When you get down to deploy your FTTx network, you can take these advice that may help you to reduce the cost.

Reuse existing duct infrastructure - The cost of civil works, such as trenching, has taken up over half of the whole cost. Thus, reusing existing ducts to avoid the need to dig trenches will save you a sum of money. In some countries, i.e, France and Spain, their operators has saved billions of Euros on installation costs by installing new cables on top of the existing utility and communication cables/conduits.

Use good design and documentation software with quality control - Since not all contractors are reliable, when you first deploy your network, you must use the devices with good quality. Only you invest a few more dollars to have it done right first time that you can reuse your expensive infrastructure again. If not, you will spend a lot more later on.

Do impact studies on the actual deployment area - The place where you are installing your network must be surveyed detailed in that it will blow up your deployment budget if you miss it. There are some factors you must take into consideration: uried utility densities, aerial routing legalities, geological soil and root systems and facilities locations.

Co-ordinate and automate roll out processes and project resources - To ensure that all workers are in good state and the work is efficient is a challenge for the daily operation. That is why we need to co-ordinate and automate roll out processes and project resources. Integrating the project team and subcontractor field resources into a single common information system would be good to the individual users to access to the areas that are appropriate to their role. This method can provide accurate, timely information to the central roll, leading to cost savings and increased customer satisfaction.

Maximize the end market as early as possible - The number of subscribers determines how much return you will get on your deployment investment. So make sure when trenching in paved streets to have ducts made up to every building’s property line, it is benefit for adding new subscribers. Try every effort to maximize the end market, and you will reduce your cost to the utmost extent.

When you deploy your FTTx network, you may need micro or ribbon cables, fusion splicers or something else. Remember that these devices must in good quality so that you can reuse again. In summary, If you follow the steps above, you will save a lot of money in deploying your FTTx network.

Originally published at http://www.chinacablesbuy.com/how-to-reduce-the-fttx-roll-out-cost.html

Fiber Types and Associated Transceivers

An optical fiber is a flexible filament made by pure glass or plastic fiber used to transmit the light. There are two types of fiber: single mode fiber (SMF) and multimode fiber (MMF). Each kind of fiber includes several categories. Different category supports different transmission speeds and wavelengths. So there must be suitable optical transceivers connecting with related fibers for the network applications. The article tells about some categories of SMF and MMF and the associated interface type of transceivers.

Types of SMF and Associated Transceivers

The common SMF is defined in ITU G.652 standard. ITU G.652 is non-dispersion-shifted single mode fiber (NDSF). This fiber is optimized in 1310nm range. In order to eliminate the problems encountered by transmissions in the third window, other fiber types were developed. Dispersion-shifted fibers (DSF) with a zero dispersion at 1550 nm were defined in ITU G.653. Thus, attenuation is minimized so that longer distance cables are possible. However, even though this fiber type eliminates the problem for transmissions of single wavelengths at 1550 nm, it is not suitable for wavelength multiplexing applications as WDM transmissions can be affected by another non-linear effect called four-wave mixing. This brought non-zero dispersion shifted fibers (NZDSF) in the ITU G.655 standard. For this fiber type, the zero dispersion is shifted just outside the C-Band, usually around 1510 nm. This helps limiting the chromatic dispersion as the zero dispersion remains close enough to the transmission band.

For SMF applications, there are various of transceivers to be used. These transceiver interfaces are defined by IEEE 802.3. They are used to transmit at 1310nm (ITU G.652) and 1550nm (like ITU G.653) wavelengths for long-haul transmission applications. The following figure shows us the different single mode fibers and associated interface types of transceivers.

Figure1. SMF/Interface Type

Types of MMF and Associated Transceivers

MMFs are described in ISO 11801 standard – OM1, OM2, and OM3 – which is based on the modal bandwidth of the MMF. OM4 was finalized in August 2009, and was published by the end of 2009 by the TIA. The letters "OM" stand for optical multi-mode. OM1 has a core size of 62.5 nm. It is most commonly used for 100 Megabit Ethernet applications. OM2 has a core size of 50 nm. It supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 82 meters. OM3 also has a core size of 50 nm. It supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 300 meters. Besides OM3 is able to support 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters. OM4 uses a 50nm core but it supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 550 meters and it supports 100 Gigabit Ethernet at lengths up to 150 meters.

Like SMF, there are also corresponding transceivers applied with MMF. The differences are wavelength and transfer distance. For MMF is suitable for short distance transmission at the wavelengths of 850 nm and 1300 nm. Figure 2 shows the different types of MMF and associated interface type of transceivers.

Figure 2. MMF/Interface Type

Fiberstore offers a full line of single mode and multimode fiber cables for all network applications. There are also a wide range of optical transceivers, such as SFP, SFP+, XFP, 40G QSFP and PON transceiver. All the transceivers can be connected with either SMF or MMF. And you can have the flexibility to custom the cables and transceivers to fit your specific requirements.

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/fiber-types-and-associated-transceivers.html

Basic Knowledge About Media Converter

Over the years, there has been a growing popularity of Ethernet networks, resulting in the increasing use of Ethernet switches in the network infrastructure. But there is problem that the majority of Ethernet switches on the market today are available only with either 10Base-T or 100Base-TX interfaces (i.e., RJ-45). And on the other hand, in order to meet the needs of longer distance transmission and immunity to electrical interference or eavesdropping/interception, fiber cable has been used on a large scale. Since the entire network is not all twisted pair, the problem of how to interconnect disparate cabling types to the switch must be solved. As a result, media converter, a device which can convert RJ-45 to one of the fiber types in use, has been designed.

What is a Media Converter?

Media converter is a simple networking device that enables you to interconnect networks or network devices with different speeds, operation types, modes and media types. And the most common type usually works as a transceiver, converting the electrical signals in copper unshielded twisted pair (UTP) network cabling to light waves used for fiber optic cabling. It is essential to have the fiber optic connectivity if the distance between two network devices is greater than the copper cabling's transmission distance. Since media converters are IEEE compliant devices, they implement IEEE data encoding rules and Link Integrity Test.

Types of Media Converter

Generally, there are two types of media converter. One type is copper to fiber media converter, another is fiber to fiber media converter. And the illustration of each type will be given as follows.

Copper to fiber media converter - It is a compact device that provides seamless integration of copper and fiber cabling in Enterprise, Government and Service Provider networks. Also, it can be divided into two types, too. They are Ethernet copper to fiber media converter and TDM copper to fiber media converter. Ethernet copper-to-fiber media converter provides connectivity for Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet devices. Some of it support 10/100 or 10/100/1000 rate switching, enabling the integration of equipment of different data rates and interface types into one seamless network.

As to TDM copper to fiber media converter, the common used types are T1/E1 and T3/E3 converters, providing a reliable and cost-effective method to extend traditional TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) telecom protocols copper connections using fiber optic cabling.

Fiber to fiber media converter - This media converter type can provide connectivity between multimode and single-mode fiber, or between dual fiber and single-fiber. What is more, it can support conversion from one wavelength to another. Fiber to fiber media converter is normally protocol independent and available for Ethernet, and TDM applications.

Benefits of Media Converter

Nowadays, media converter plays an important role in multi-protocol and mixed-media networks. In general, media conversion can deliver the following benefits for your network environment:

Cost Reduction - Compared with the hybrid media switches, the cost of media converters with cost-effective Ethernet switches is much lower. What is more, the two devices can do the same job. This type of media converter solution can cost significantly less than that relies on higher-layer devices such as routers or switches.

Flexibility and Simplification - It is of much flexibility for media converter to combine copper with 850 nm and 1300 nm multimode fiber and 1310 nm and 1550 nm single-mode fiber. In addition, With protocol transparency, it can be applied in anywhere in the local network or remote network whether it's a LAN or the WAN environment.

Ease of Use and High Availability - Configuring and installing redundant solution of media converter is much easier to handle and to manage than higher-layer devices. And it will makes the troubleshooting easier if you add management functions to the media converter.

Since media converter has so many advantages, it can support advanced bridge features – including VLAN, Quality of Service prioritization, Port Access Control and Bandwidth Control – that facilitate the deployment of new data, voice and video to end users. In a word, media converter does more than convert copper-to-fiber and convert between different fiber types. It can also provide all these sophisticated switch capabilities in a small, cost-effective device.

Originally published at http://www.chinacablesbuy.com/basic-knowledge-about-media-converter.html

Guide to Cat5 Cable

UTP is short for "unshielded twisted pair". It's a kind of cable types with one or more pairs of twisted insulated copper conductors contained in a single sheath. UTP cables contain several different categories such as Category 3, Category 4, and Category 5. The word "Category" is abbreviated to "Cat". So Category 3 cable is Cat3 cable and Category 5 cable is Cat5 cable. They are different in the electrical performance criteria. Cat5 cable is the most popular UTP in the today’s computer networking. This article will introduce Cat5 cable.

Structure & Features

Inside Cat5 cable, there are 4 wire pairs. The four wire pairs are distinguished by the color of the insulation. The four colors are orange, green, blue and brown. Each pair has a common theme. One wire in the pair is a solid or primarily solid colored wire and the other is a primarily white wire with a colored stripe. For example, orange is for the solid colored wire and White/Orange for the striped cable. The color code shall be as follows:

e 4 wire pairs of Cat5 cable are carefully twisted. The twists of Cat5 are extremely important. The tighter the twists, the greater the signal integrity. With tighter twists, interference received by the cable is more likely to affect both wires in a pair equally, resulting in no change in the difference between them. This keeps greater data capacity over long distances. Besides, the tighter twists also suppress noise created by the cable because the magnetic field from one wire is canceled by the other, making it less prone to interfering with other cables.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Most computer users tend to choose Cat5 cable for their network. That’s because Cat5 cable is cheap. It’s also ideal for a variety of applications, such as computer networks and telephone wiring. And it can reach high-transfer rates. Cat5 cable provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX (Fast Ethernet). However, Cat5 cable gradually looses its advantage in the constantly advancing environment of technology. The data transfer through Cat5 cable is limited. It can only handle 100 M per second, and thus is not as effective for larger corporate networks or for any process that requires large data streams such as in modern television transfers.

Comparison with Other UTPs

To meet the high bandwidth needs, Cat5E, Cat6, Cat7 are recommended to the market. Cat5E is an enhanced version of Cat5 to support Gigabit speed which is ten times faster than Fast Ethernet. Cat6 cable is the next step of Cat5E. Compared with Cat5 cables, Cat6 provides lower crosstalk, a higher signal-to-noise ratio, and is suitable for 10GBASE-T (10-Gigabit Ethernet). Cat7 cable is backwards compatible with Cat5 and Cat6 Ethernet. Cat7 has more strict specifications for crosstalk and system noise than Cats. As time goes on, Cat8 cable is provided in the market to satisfy the 40G Ethernet (40GBASE-T).

From the above, with low cost and multiple applications advantages, Cat5 once has been the most common UTP. As higher bandwidth is needed, people tend to other UTPs such as Cat5E, Cat6, Cat7 and CAT8. So guess what kind of twisted pair cabling will appear next? The enhanced Cat8? Or Cat9? There is no exact answer. But the certainty is that the research on cabling work will never stop. And there will be optimized cables to meet the high bandwidth requirements.

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/guide-to-cat5-cable.html

Why the Future of Active Optical Cable Is Bright?

Driven by the demand for more bandwidth for data center, networking is challenging interconnect technologies like Ethernet, Infiniband, Fibre Channel, and Serial-Attached SCST (SAS). Transceivers such as SFP+, QSFP+ or CXP can accept a passive copper-based cable for lengths of 5-7 meters or an actively copper-based cable for lengths up to 15 meters. To seek lower cost, lower power consumption and lower link latency over longer distances, active optical cable (AOC) emerged.

AOC is a cabling technology that accepts the same electrical inputs as a traditional cooper cable. But it uses optical fiber to joint the connectors terminated on each end of the cable. AOC uses electrical-optical conversion on the cable ends to improve speed and data transmission distance of the cable not sacrificing compatibility with standard electrical interfaces.

Nowadays, the AOC market is fast growing. How does this happen? Then the following will tell a few advantages of AOC by comparing it with copper cable and optical transceiver.

Compared With Copper Cable

• Lighter weight 
  Compared with copper cable which has existed in the market for decades, AOC is lighter. For example, five meters of copper cable weighs about one kilogram. Ten meters of AOC weighs less than 150g. The weight difference is obvious. Thus, AOC has fewer chances of damage to switch ports. The lighter and thinner optical cables are easy to manage and maintain and requires less space. Besides, it allows better airflow for cooling and has lower power consumption.

• Longer Distance 
  The other key characteristics of AOC is active. That’s also the big difference from copper cable. Passive copper will suffer excessive bit error rates when the distance is beyond five meters. AOC is in bit error rates over distance. And it can operate reliably over the distance up to 100 meters. Some AOC products can even extend the reach to 1 km.

Compared With Optical Transceiver

As the name implies, AOC comes with optical connectors on each end that provide electrical-optical conversion and optical transmission. So users can remove the pluggable copper-based transmission device (usually either a CX-4 or QSFP) and plug in the active cables transceiver/connector, whose form factor mirrors that of the copper device it replaces. Compared with the transceiver products, AOC can avoid some of the obstacles that fiber has encountered in data centers. What’s more, it has much greater simplicity and reliability, as it’s factory terminated. And there is no risk of mis-matching polarities, dirt entering the assemblies, or different manufacturers’ tolerance mismatching.

Because of these advantages, the demand for the AOC is increasing as an alternative to copper cable. Some vendors such as Fiberstore have rushed to develop products to meet this hot spot. Fiberstore keeps improving its product line of AOC in order to better satisfy the application of 10G, 40G to 100G Ethernet. At present, there are a variety of AOCs in the market, such as 10GbE SFP+ AOCs, 40Gbps QSFP+ AOCs and 120G CXP AOCs.

The market is expected to grow to just under $100 million and 450,000 units by 2015 according to some forecasts. The increasing growth in commercial data centers and the advent of high speed transmission will make AOCs achieve sales of around US $1 billion by 2018 that means the future of AOCs is bright.

Originally published at http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/why-the-future-of-active-optical-cable-is-bright.html

A Cost-effiective Solution - Cisco Compatible SFP

According to the report of Gartner, Cisco has taken up almost half of the global network equipment market share (totally $38 billion), ahead of other competitors in the telecommunication industry. To a large extend, it is the switches’ market share that attributes to this success. Cisco SFP is the small form factor pluggable module that is usually plugged into the switch. But its price is very high, even up to thousands of dollars. The highly cost is the reason why many customers hesitate to buy it. So in this case, in order to offer a cost-effective solution for you, Cisco compatible SFP in Fiberstore comes around.

Why Choose Fiberstore

Cisco compatible SFP offered by Fiberstore are the most cost-effective standards-based SFP modules fully compatible with Cisco switches & routers. The main advantage of Cisco compatible SFP over Cisco SFP is its cost, which makes it become the cost-effective solution. Here we are going to give a price comparison by taking some examples.

Model Number	Price of Cisco compatible SFP	Price of Cisco SFP
GLC-T	$16.00	$ 395.00
GLC-LH-SMD	$7.00	$ 995.00
GLC-LH-SM	$7.00	$ 995.00
GLC-SX-MM	$6.00	$ 500.00

With this great advantage, Fiberstore has become one of the best-sellers in this industry. What is more, besides the above kinds, various kinds of Cisco Compatible SFPs with good quality and service are also offered here.

Features & Applications of Fiberstore Cisco Compatible SFP

The capacity of Fiberstore Cisco compatible SFP modules is as good as Cisco SFP. They are both of low-power consumption, operating on Cisco switches steady. Generally, there are three kinds of Cisco compatible SFP modules designed to used for three main applications. They are Fast Ethernet SFP, Cisco Gigabit Ethernet SFP and WDM SFP. Next, each application will be given a brief description.

Fast Ethernet SFP - Fast Ethernet SFP comes in six configurations which can be described as the Cisco 100BASE-X SFP. It is a hot-swappable input/output device that plugs into Fast Ethernet ports, dual-rate Fast/Gigabit Ethernet ports, or Gigabit Ethernet ports of a Cisco switch or router, linking the port with the fiber cabling network. One of its configuration is 100BASE-FX SFP, operating on ordinary multimode fiber optic (MMF) link spans up to 2 kilometers long. But there is a point you should note that Cisco offers two products for 100BASE-FX. One is GLC-FE-100FX is for 100Mbps Ethernet ports, and the other one is GLC-GE-100FX is for Gigabit Ethernet ports. Both products can be found in Fiberstore with compatible solution.

Gigabit Ethernet SFP - SFP for Gigabit Ethernet can be described as Cisco 1000BASE-X SFP, which plugs into a Gigabit Ethernet port or slot. Compared with Fast Ethernet SFP, its speed and capacity are better. And currently, it still plays an important part in the telecommunication networks. For example, 1000BASE-SX SFP, which is a cost effective module with high performance, can support dual data-rate of 1.25 Gbps/1.0625 Gbps and 550m transmission distance with MMF.

CWDM & DWDM SFP - The speed of CWDM & DWDM SFP can be up to 10 Gbps, with a full options of wavelength for both CWDM and DWDM applications. They both allow enterprises, companies and service providers to provide scalable and easy-to-deploy Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel services in their networks.

Nowadays, Fiberstore has become one of the leaders in compatible optical transceiver modules global manufacturer and supplier trade. At present, there are a lot of discounts for bulk orders in Fiberstore. For more information, please contact us directly over e-mail sales@fiberstore.com.

Originally published at www.chinacablesbuy.com