Tag Archives: LC fiber cable

Add More Beneficial to Fiber Patch Cables

More and more fiber optic cables are adding to the existing fiber optic network. Technicians are facing the challenges to detail with thousands or more fiber patch cables. Well organized fiber patch cable and fiber cabling system are no longer enough for the increasing need. The fiber patch cables used in data centers should still have reliable and stable performance under repeat connections and disconnections. To find the best solution for fiber patch cables in high density data center and server room. The most urgent current demands should be considered.

fiber cabling problems

How to Solve Fiber Cabling Problems

There are mainly two problems in data center for fiber cabling. One is too many fiber cables installed in limited spaces. The other one is the property of fiber optic cable which requires careful operation during cabling.

high density fiber cabling
Decrease Fiber Patch Cable Space Requirement With Uniboot Design

As more and more devices are added in data center, decrease fiber count in data center is not that easy. Thus, decrease the space requirement for each fiber optic patch cable is relatively easier. Decrease cable diameter is suggested. Smaller fiber cable diameter is preferred in data center now. New versions of duplex fiber patch cables like LC uniboot fiber patch cables are invented. The following picture shows one end of the LC uniboot fiber patch cable. This type of duplex fiber cable has a smaller cable diameter than that of traditional duplex zipcord fiber cable. And the uniboot design has lower space requirement for connector boot.

LC uniboot fiber patch cable
Provide Easier Finger Access With Push Pull Tab

However, even the sizes of the fiber cable and connector boot are decreased. The port type like LC, SC and MTP cannot be changed directly. There is still finger access problem at the device port is the devices like switches and fiber enclosure are fully loaded with fiber patch cables. Then a push pull tab is being added to the connector body. The following picture shows the details of LC uniboot fiber patch cable with push-pull tab.

LC push-pull fiber patch cable

With the help of this small but useful push-pull tab, data center technicians not only have easier access to every port, but also enjoy easier connecting and disconnecting of every individual fiber patch cable in high density cabling environment without affecting any other fiber links near it. There is also high density push-pull MTP-LC breakout cable available in FS.COM.

push-pull MTP-LC fiber patch cable
Use Bend Insensitive Fiber Cable for Flexible Cabling

Data center technicians are required to operate the fiber patch cables very carefully to decrease the bend loss. The using of bend insensitive fiber cable can offer a much flexible and easy cabling environment for the data center technicians. The worrying of bend loss can be eliminated.

bend insensitive fiber patch cable

All Benefits in One Fiber Patch Cable

As the above mentioned, to build a high density cabling environment, uniboot fiber patch cable and high density push-pull tab fiber patch cables are being invented. To offer an easier and flexible cabling environment with high performance, bend insensitive fiber cables are suggested. What if we add all these great advantages into a single length of fiber patch cable? Here introduces the very special but useful LC bend insensitive uniboot fiber patch cable with push-pull tab (shown in the following picture).

LC bend insensitive uniboot fiber patch cable

This LC uniboot fiber patch cable has all the above mentioned advantages for space saving, easy finger access and flexible cabling with lowest bend loss. These LC uniboot fiber patch cables of different fiber types and cable lengths are available in FS.COM. If you are looking for some fiber patch cables to add more beneficial to your data center, you can consider this LC Push-Pull bend insensitive uniboot fiber patch cable.

Increase Network Capacity With BiDi Fiber Optic Modules

BiDi Fiber

Adding more fiber optic cable in the existed fiber optic network is a time and money consuming method to increase the transmission capacity of the network. In most cases, server providers cannot provide that much money and customers do not want to wait that long. To increase the fiber optic network capacity, BiDi fiber optic modules are being suggested for a variety of situations, which can support duplex transmission over a single strand of optical fiber. Now there are a lot of fiber optic transceivers designated with BiDi technologies to increase the network capacity. This post will introduce the most commonly used BiDi modules.

10G BiDi SFP+ 1270-1330

Working Principle of BiDi Fiber Optic Transceivers

Generally, most fiber optic transceivers use two fibers for duplex transmission. However, most BiDi fiber transceivers use two different wavelengths to carry the duplex signals separately. In simple, the two wavelengths are just like two fibers. The optical signals for transmission and receiving are separately converted into signals of specific wavelengths. This is why most BiDi transceivers can support duplex transmission over a single fiber. The following picture shows the basic working principle of a BiDi transceiver.

BiDi transceiver working principle

Commonly Used BiDi Fiber Optic Transceiver

Generally, BiDi transceivers can be divided according to the data rate and package form factors. Currently, the most commonly used BiDi fiber modules can support a data rate ranging from 1G to 40G, and are available in diverse form factor like SFP, SFP+ and QSFP+.

1G BiDi SFP (1000BASE-BX SFP)

For 1G BiDi transceiver, 1G BiDi SFP, also known as 1000BASE-BX SFP modules are often used in today’s network. One thing should be noticed before using BiDi modules, is that the BiDi modules should be used in pairs. As mentioned that BiDi modules use two different wavelengths for transmission. For instance, on one side of you use a BiDi SFP (Tx1310nm/Rx1490nm), on the other side a BiDi fiber SFP using 1490 nm for transmission and 1310 nm for receiving is required. A length of simplex single-mode LC to LC fiber cable is usually used to connect this pair of BiDi SFP module to achieve the connection.

LC/UPC simplex SMF
10G BiDi SFP+ (10GBASE-BX SFP+)

10G BiDi SFP+ modules also have a simplex LC interface, which is also used in pairs and connected by simplex LC fiber cable. Generally, BiDi fiber transceiver can support a long transmission distance. To select the right 10GBASE-BX SFP+ module, wavelength and transmission distance are two important factors to be considered. Currently, 10G BiDi SFP+ modules using 1270nm and 1330 nm for transmission are most commonly used for 10G transmission. 10GBASE-BX SFP+ modules that support transmission distances of 10km, 20km, 40km and 80km are more popular according to statistic from FS.COM. Cisco compatible 10GBASE-BX20-D/U SFP+ and 10GBASE-BX10-D/U SFP+ are the most popular among all the third party 10G BiDi SFP+ modules.

10G BiDi SFP 1330-1270

There are also 10GBASE-BX SFP+ modules in other form factors, like 10G BiDi X2 (10GBASE-BX X2) modules. However, these modules are gradually exiting the market with the upgrading of the devices.

40G BiDi QSFP+ (QSFP-40G-SR-BD)

Unlike other BiDi fiber transceiver like 1000BASE-BX SFP and 10GBASE-BX SFP+, QSFP-40G-SR-BD module has a duplex LC interface. It uses BiDi technologies to achieve four strands of 10G optical signals over a duplex multimode LC fiber patch cable over two different wavelengths. My article (Using 10G Infrastructure for 40G Ethernet With 40G BiDi Optics) has introduced this module in details. The following shows the basic working principle of QSFP-40G-SR-BD. This module can achieve transmission distance up to 150 meters over OM4, 100 meters over OM3 and 30 meters over OM2.

QSFP-40G-SR-BD

BiDi Module Solutions

Using BiDi fiber modules to increase the capacity of the existing fiber optic network is more effective in both time and money than adding more optical cables. Selecting the right BiDi modules should not only consider the data rate, transmission distance, package form factors, and wavelengths, price and quality are also essential factors. If quality and price are your priorities, then FS.COM is the right place to be. Kindly contact sales@fs.com or visit Fiber Optic Transceiver page of FS.COM for more details.