Category Archives: Fiber Patch Cable

Fiber Patch Cables for Harsh Environment

It is usually inevitable to deploy fiber cables in harsh environments for both indoor and outdoor applications. Rodents, like squirrels in outdoor and rats in data centers, are cable destroyers which like to bite or chew fiber optic cables. Except that, there are also many other challenges which can harm fiber optic cables and cause fiber failures, like dusts, water or other liquid, accidental impact, etc. Thus, enough protection should be provided for fiber optic network. Two types of fiber patch cables, which are specially designed for harsh cabling environments, will be introduced in this post.

The two fiber patch cables are armored fiber patch cable and IP67 fiber patch cable. As most fiber cable failures are usually caused by fiber breaks and contaminants, the fiber cable and the termination points of the fiber links should all be well protected. And the two types of fiber cable can perfectly meet most requirements of harsh cabling environment.

armored fiber patch cable

Unlike traditional fiber patch cables which are fragile and usually need careful operation, armored fiber patch cables are usually much more durable and flexible. Armored fiber patch cable usually has two jackets, one inner jacket and one outer jacket, between which there is a build-in steel tube. Some vendors also provide armored fiber cables with aluminum tube. This robust metal tube can provide optical fibers inside armored fiber cable from the impact and bite from animals. The most commonly used designs of armor used in armored fiber cables are interlock and corrugated. For most outside plant applications, the corrugated armored fiber cables are suggested. Now a lot of armored fiber patch cable uses interlock armor. During operation in data center, armored fiber patch cable can provide a more flexible cabling environment, because it has bend restrictor which can provide optical fibers from over bending. The following picture shows the structure of an armored fiber patch cable.

structure of Armored fiber cable

With its durability and flexibility, armored fiber patch cables and armored fiber cable are widely deployed in today’s network. For data center applications, there is a wide selection of armored fiber patch cables, which are available from different connector type, fiber type, jacket type, fiber count, etc.

OS2 armored fiber patch cable OM1/OM2 armored fiber patch cable OM3 armored fiber patch cable OM4 armored fiber patch cable
OS2 Armored Fiber Patch Cable OM1/OM2 Armored Fiber Patch Cable OM3 Armored Fiber Patch Cable OM4 Armored Fiber Patch Cable

IP67 fiber patch cable is a robust fiber patch cable terminated with specially designed fiber optic connections, which can protection fiber links from the harm of dusts and liquid. “IP67” is the code of Ingress Protection Marking which is a system to provide the protection level of products. The former digit “6” (totally protected against dust) and the latter digit “7” (protection from water dip) is used to describe the protection degrees of dust and liquid separately. The highest level of a fiber patch cable that can be provided in the market is IP68. IP67 fiber patch cable is an ideal solution to protect fiber links, especially the termination points. The fiber connector terminated on the IP67 fiber patch cable is different from traditional ones. A standard fiber optic connector is being protected by a special shell. To connect two IP67 fiber patch cables, special fiber optic adapter should be used for better sealing and protection. The following picture shows a LC-LC fiber patch cable. The following table listed part of the most commonly used IP67 assemblies.

LC IP67 fiber patch cable MTP IP67 fiber patch cable IP67 fiber adapter
LC-LC IP67 Fiber Patch Cable MPO-MPO IP67 Fiber Patch Cable IP67 Fiber Adapters
Conclusion

Fiber cable protection is always the priority of fiber optic networks. Selecting the right patch cable according to applications is essential and necessary. For environments where animals and impact are very common, armored fiber patch cable can be used. For places where liquid and dusts are great challenges, waterproof IP67 fiber patch cable, proving great sealing, is suggested.

How to Connect 40G QSFP+ SR4 Transceivers to Network

40G network is gradually being applied in today’s backbone transmission network, during which long distance transmission is required. 40G QSFP+ SR4 fiber optic transceiver is being widely applied for 40G transmission in short distances. Generally, 40G QSFP+ SR4, working on wavelength of 850 nm, can support 40G fiber optic transmission a distance up to 150 m over OM4 multimode optical fiber. Inserted in switch, QSFP+ SR4 module utilizes a MTP/MPO interface for dual way transmission. There are a lot of methods to connect QSFP+ SR4 transceivers with other devices for different applications, by using different connectivity products. In addition, the cabling for 40G is relatively more difficult than that of 10G network, which requires more cables and spaces. The following will introduce several high density QSFP+ SR4 transceiver cabling methods.

QSFP+ SR4 40G to 40G Applications

40G to 40G transmission is needed in a 40G fiber optic network. The following picture simply illustrates how 40G to 40G multimode transmission is being achieved by QSFP+ SR4 transceivers. Two QSFP+ SR4 modules are separately inserted in two 40G switches. Then the two transceiver are connected by a length of multimode MTP trunk cable. This is the simplest way to use QSFP+ SR4 transceiver.

40G cabling

In some cases, there are lot of 40G connections required at the same time and same places, which means the increasing of both cable count and cabling difficulty. For better cable management and higher density cabling, a 48-port 1U rack mount MTP fiber patch enclosure can be used as shown in the following picture. Up to four 12-port MTP fiber adapter panels can be deployed in this standard 1U rack mount enclosure. With the help of this 48-port MTP fiber enclosure, cable management for 40G connections could be easier.

40G to 40G cabling

QSFP+ SR4 40G to 10G Applications

QSFP+ SR4 is a parallel fiber optic transceiver which means it uses four fibers for transmitting and four fibers for receiving at the same time. The 40G fiber optic signal can be separated into four 10G signals to meet the 40G to 10G transferring requirements. The fiber optic cable count will be increased at the 10G distribution end. Usually a breakout MTP-8LC harness cable is used. For better cable management, a 1U 96-fiber enclosure is recommended, which includes four HD MTP cassettes transferring MTP front the 40G end to LC at the 10G end. Four 10G-SR SFP+ modules, inserted in 10G switch/ports, can be connected to the corresponding LC ports on this fiber enclosure to achieve the duplex transmission between 40G and 10G.

40G to 10G cabling

For higher cabling density, the above mentioned 48-port 1U rack mount MTP fiber patch enclosure is still being recommended, which can provide high density 40G MTP cabling environment. And additional MTP-8LC harness cables should be used for transferring signals between 40G and 10G (shown in the following picture).

40G to 10G high density cabling

Conclusion

Depending on its parallel transmission mode, QSFP+ SR4 modules can meet a variety of cabling applications with great flexibility. The above methods is just several commonly used ones, detailed cabling methods for QSFP+ SR4 modules are depended on the practical applications and cabling environments. Related products for the above mentioned methods are listed in the following tables. Kindly visit FS.COM or click the attached links for more details. You can also contact sales@fs.com for more information about 40G cabling.

Products Description
40G QSFP+ SR4 Module 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ 850nm 150m MTP/MPO DOM Transceiver
10G-SR SFP+ Module 10GBASE-SR SFP+, 850nm 300m, MMF, LC duplex
MTP Trunk Cable 12 Fibers OM4, 12 Strands MTP Female to Female, Polarity Type B
MTP-LC Harness Cable 8 Fibers OM4, 12 Strands MTP Harness Cable, Polarity Type B
LC-LC Fiber Patch Cable 1~100M LC-LC Duplex 10G OM4, MMF Fiber Patch Cable
96 Fibers Rackmount Fiber Enclosure 96 Fibers 1U Rackmount Fiber Enclosure loaded with 4 MTP HD Cassettes 2x MTP-12 to Duplex LC/UPC 10G OM4
48 Ports MTP Fiber Enclosure 1U Rackmount FHD Series Fiber Enclosure, Loaded with 4 FAPs (12xMTP)

Pre-terminated Fiber Cabling in Data Center

pre-terminated fiber cabling

Fiber optic cabling and termination usually cost a lot of time and labor during the deployment of data center. Filed fiber optic termination is still being widely used in many data centers. However, with the data center increasingly depending on the high density cabling, fiber cabling and termination in data center becomes will cost more time and money if using the traditional field termination methods. Meanwhile, the fiber optic network is becoming more and more complex, which makes the data center cabling becomes more difficult. The risks of faults caused manual fiber termination will be increased. To solve problems caused by manual operations and meets the high density requirement of the data center, pre-termianted fiber cable assemblies are introduced in data center.

Advantages of Pre-Terminated Fiber Cable Assemblies

Deploying a data center by using field termination methods might need a few days or more. Engineers have to termination a lot of fiber optic links and connect them to the right ports. To ensure there are no wrong links and bad fiber optic splicing joints, a lot of checking should be done. However, pre-terminated fiber cable assemblies, using the plug-and-play designed modules and cables, can largely improve the working efficiency, increase cabling density and decrease the total data center installation cost. In addition, the factory terminated fiber cable assemblies eliminate the need of fiber optic splicing and provide higher performance compared with field terminated fiber optic cables.

MTP cassette application

Pre-Terminated Fiber Cabling Assemblies in 40G/100G Applications

The most commonly used pre-terminated fiber cabling assemblies for 40G/100G high density cabling applications are MTP/MPO fiber cable assemblies including MTP/MPO trunk cable, MTP/MPO harness cable and MTP/MPO cassette. These pre-terminated components can be directly connected to fiber optic network for data transmission. Making good use of these components can largely increase the cabling density and working efficiency in data centers.

MTP/MPO Trunk Cable

MTP/MPO trunk cable is a length of multi-fiber optical cable usually used for backbone transmission in data center. 12-fiber MTP/MPO trunk cable and 24-fiber MTP/MPO trunk cable used for 40G and 100G applications separately.

MTP/MPO trunk cable

There are generally two versions of MTP/MPO trunk cable—single-strand MTP/MPO trunk cable and multi-strand MTP/MPO trunk cable. A multi-strand MTP/MPO trunk cable combines several single-stand MTP/MPO trunk cables together. For example, a 72-fiber MTP/MPO trunk cable, as shown in the following picture, has 6 strands of 12-fiber cables combining together. Each strand is terminated with a 12-fiber MTP/MPO connector.

72-fiber trunk cable
MTP/MPO Harness Cable

MTP/MPO harness cable is a fanout version of MTP/MPO fiber optic cable. A MTP/MPO fiber optic connector is terminated on one end of this cable, the fanout end it terminated several other types of fiber optic connectors which are usually LC fiber connectors. This type of pre-terminated fiber optic cable is generally used for 40G to 10G transmission or 100G to 10G transmission. MTP/MPO harness cables also come into various types, the most commonly used are 12-fiber MTP/MPO to 6 duplex LC harness cable for 40G duplex transmission and 24-fiber MTP/MPO to 12 duplex LC harness cable for 100G duplex transmission.

MTP/MPO harness cable
MTP/MPO Cassette

MTP/MPO cassette is a specially designed box which contains one or more small version of MTP harness cables in side it. Generally there is one or more MTP fiber optic interface on the back rear of a MTP/MPO cassette and several LC interfaces on its front rear. It can be easily installed on the rack for easier cabling as shown in the following picture.

mtp-cassette-application

In this way, the fiber optic connections are protected in this box and more fiber optic connections can be added to the data center without worrying about space limitation. The most commonly used are MTP/MPO LGX cassettes. However, driven by increasing need for high density, the size of MTP/MPO Cassette is keeping decrease. HD MTP/MPO cassette (shown in the following picture) is also available in the market for higher cabling density.

HD MTP/MPO Cassette

Conclusion

The pre-terminated fiber cable assemblies help to accelerate the data center deployment, reduce costs and error, and provide great flexibility and scalability. MTP/MPO cabling system as one the most popular pre-terminated fiber cabling solutions can perfectly fit the 40G and 100G applications. The above mentions products is just a really small part of the pre-terminated fiber cable assemblies. If you need more details, please visit FS.COM where you can customize the pre-terminated fiber cable assemblies according to your applications.

How Many Choices Do You Still Have for Fiber Patch Cable?

Fiber patch cable, also known as fiber jumper, is a key component in today’s fiber optic network. They play the role of veins in the whole fiber optic network bringing fiber optic signals between devices.

How to Select Standard Fiber Patch Cable?

During the selection of standard fiber patch cables, several questions are usually take into consideration:

  • What’s the fiber type of the patch cable? The available selection are Multimode (OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4) and single-mode (OS1 and OS2).
  • What’s the connector type and connector polishing type on the two ends of fiber patch cable? Currently the most commonly used fiber patch cables are usually terminated with LC, SC and MPO connectors.
  • What’s the fiber count of the patch cable? Simplex (one fiber) and duplex (2 fibers) fiber patch cable are very common. For fiber patch cables terminated with MTP/MPO connector or breakout fiber patch cables. Their fiber count would be larger, sometime up to 24 fibers or more.
  • What’s the material of the fiber patch cable jacket? PVC, LSZH, Armored, and OFNP are the choice of most situations.
Not All Fiber Patch Cable Are Created Equal

Now with the fiber optic cable being widely used in a variety of industries and places, the requests for fiber patch are being refined. Fiber patch cable are being required to be improved and provide more possibilities to satisfy various application environments. Actually, many specially fiber patch cable have been created to answer the market call. Here will introduce several unique but useful fiber patch cable for your references.

Bend Insensitive Fiber Patch Cable for Lower Signal Loss

Bend loss issues are always a headache problem for most fiber optic network designers and installers. Why? Cause signal loss caused by bend loss issues are really hard to handle. In addition the bend loss issues are difficult to locate. That’s why bend insensitive fiber patch cables are created. Literally, it tells us that this type of fiber patch cable is not as sensitive as other fiber patch cables. The secrets is lays on the fibers which is made of bend insensitive glass. More and more data centers and FTTH systems are tend to use these bend insensitive fiber patch cables, because they do not provide lower signal loss, but also provide a much more durable and easy to maintain networking environment. Fiber optic installer is able to save installation cost with faster installation due to easier fiber optic cable handling.

bend insensitive fiber patch cable
Keyed LC Fiber Patch Cable for Data Security

Keyed LC fiber patch cable, is also called secured LC fiber patch cable. This is because, the fiber optic connectors on the two end of the patch cable are specially designed LC connectors, which can ensure the data security at the mechanic level. Keyed LC fiber patch cable is identifies by the connector color. Keyed LC fiber patch cable is just a part of the Keyed LC connectivity product family. It should be used with the same colored fiber adapters or fiber adapter panels. Each color of a set of keyed LC connectivity products represents a unique keying pattern that only allows matched color mating. This is how keyed LC fiber patch cable can provide data security for fiber optic network. A previous article (Secure Fiber Optic Link With Keyed LC Connectivity Products) of my has introduce keyed LC connectivity in details, kindly follow the link on the article title if you need more information about them.

keyed-lc-connector-and-adapter
Uniboot LC Fiber Patch Cable for Easier Cable Management

Uniboot LC fiber patch cable is a fiber patch cable with two fibers wrapped in the same strand of cable. A duplex LC fiber optic connector which can provide easy polarity reversal is terminated on each end of the uniboot LC fiber patch cable. The following picture show the polarity reversal of a typical uniboot LC fiber patch cable. With less cabling space are require, better cooling is available. With easier polarity reversal, no additional tools are required. And easier cable management can be enjoyed.

uniboot LC fiber patch cable
HD TAB Fiber Patch Cable for Space Saving

HD (high density) TAB fiber patch cable is a fiber patch cable with its connectors attached with a push pull tab, which can provide easier finger access and cable locating. Today’s fiber optic network is increasing depended on high density which results in difficult finger access and difficult cable management. With a push-pull tab attached on the connector, problem are solved easily. The connecting and disconnection of fiber patch cables will be easier without affecting other surrounding links. Currently most HD TAB fiber patch cables available the market are terminated with LC and MTP/MPO connectors. For more information about this type of patch cable kindly visit my article: Cabling With High Density Push-Pull Tab Patch Cords.

HD TAB fiber patch cable
HD Uniboot LC Fiber Patch Cable—Space Saving to the Extreme

HD uniboot LC fiber patch cable combine the advantages of uniboot LC fiber patch cable and HD TAB fiber patch cable. Combining two optical fibers in a single cable strand and attaching a push-pull tab on the connectors, HD uniboot LC fiber patch cable can minimize the required cabling spaces to extreme. It is an ideal solution for high density cabling environment.push-pull tab patch cords connectors

Except the standard fiber patch cable, there are still a lot of choices which can meet the requirements of various networking environment. All the above mentioned fiber patch cable are all available in FS.COM. Kindly visit FS.COM or contact sales@fs.com for more details.

Using 10G Infrastructure for 40G Ethernet With 40G BiDi Optics

During migration from 10G to 40G, one of the most headache problem is that the 10G infrastructure is different from 40G. For example, 40GASE-SR4 QSFP+ transceiver is the most popular solution for 40G transmission in short distances. It uses four 10G lanes to support 40G through a 12-fiber MTP/MPO interface, with four for receiving and four for transmitting and the rest fibers are not in use. However, in traditional 10G transmission, a duplex fiber optic patch cable is enough, with one fiber for receiving and the other for transmitting. This difference requires the change of infrastructure when upgrading 10G network to 40G network. If the 40G QSFP+ transceiver for short distance also using the duplex transmission mode, things would be much easier. That’s why we have 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP transceiver. This 40G BiDi optics targeting on 40G Ethernet can finish both the transmitting and receiving via a duplex LC patch cords.LC-LC patch cords

How Does 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP Work?

The secret of this 40G BiDi transceiver for short distance is based on the wavelengths. Instead of using four different lanes, this 40G BiDi QSFP uses two duplex 20G transmission mode on two fibers. In simple, each fiber optic should carry two 20G signals over two different wavelengths (usually 850nm and 900nm) respectively. The signal is sent to a target device via 850 nm on one fiber. The signal from the target device is sent via 850 nm on the other fiber. This also works for signals on 900 nm, as shown in the following picture.

40G BiDi QSFP optics

This is why 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP transceivers can support 40G Ethernet by using a duplex LC patch cords. Compare with the traditional 40G connection for short distance, 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP transceivers is straightforward. Replace the 10G optics by 40G BiDi QSFP optics and no additional cassettes are needed, you can have 40G Ethernet.

40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP, Just Easier 40G Migration?

The power of 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP is definitely not limited to offering easier 40G migration path. 40G BiDi QSFP can also largely decrease the cost for 40G cabling. The traditional 40G short distance links usually pre-terminated 12-fiber MTP/MPO trunk cables with OM3/OM4 fibers, which are expensive than LC multimode patch cords. In additon, for nearly 95% of our data center links are no longer than 200 meters. The 40G BiDi optics can support 40G Ethernet up to 100 meters (OM3) and 150 meter (OM4). That means 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP can cover a wide range of using in data center. With LC patch cords being used, more space can be saved. And data center can have better cooling.

40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP and Cabling Solution

Without changing the 10G cabling infrastructure, you can have 40G Ethernet by using 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP transceivers and duplex LC patch cords. The following table offers the 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP related products. To meet the high density trend in data center, a new version of LC patch cords with push-pull tab is also provided.

Products Description
QSFP-BD-40G 40GBASE-SR Bi-Directional QSFP Module
850/900nm,100m(OM3)/150m(OM4) LC Transceiver for MMF
LC/LC OM3 Patch Cords LC UPC to LC UPC 50/125 OM4 Duplex Multimode Fiber Patch Cable
LC/LC OM4 Patch Cords LC UPC to LC UPC 50/125 OM4 Duplex Multimode Fiber Patch Cable
Push-Pull Tab LC/LC OM3 Patch Cords LC-HD to LC-HD Duplex OM3 Multimode Push-Pull Tab Fiber Patch Cable
Push-Pull Tab LC/LC OM4 Patch Cords LC-HD to LC-HD Duplex OM4 Multimode Push-Pull Tab Fiber Patch Cable

Kindly visit FS.COM for more details.