High-density MPO/MTP Cabling Assemblies in Data Centers

petak , 03.06.2016.

Along with the advent and heavy use of big data and cloud computing, the demand for high-speed transmission and great data capacity is growing more vigorously than ever before in this fast-changing mobile world. A large number of servers are housed in cloud-computing data centers of some big enterprises and organizations. Thus, today’s data centers are faced with such a major challenge: how to obtain the balance of high -capacity & -transmission data rate and low power consumption. As data throughput increases, 40/100Gbps are more common and now become a trend and hot-spot for data-center cabling system, with the MPO/MTP connector being the popular optical interface for 40/100GbE network. This article is aimed at introducing high-density MPO/MTP cabling assemblies in data centers.

MPO/MTP Cable Benefits
MPO/MTP cable, a significant part of structured cabling, is designed for the reliable and quick operations in Data Centers. The obvious benefits of these cables are less space occupation and improved scalability, providing significant space and cost savings, widely used in 40GbE and 100GbE network environment. MPO/MTP cabling assemblies include patch cables, trunk cables, harness (fan-out or breakout) cables, cassettes, etc..

MPO/MTP Patch Cables
MPO/MTP patch cables come into use when 40G or 100G transceivers are employed with MTP/MPO interface, say QSFP+ module (ie. 40G-QSFP-SR4) or QSFP28 optics (ie. JNP-QSFP-100G-SR4). The ends of MTP/MPO fiber cables are terminated with the customer's choice of 12-fiber or 24-fiber MPO connectors. Available in a male-to-male version (left with guide pins) and a female-to-female version (without pins), these cables are used in various applications such as all-optical networking and devices like the above-mentioned 40G/100G optics.

MPO/MTP Trunk Cables
MPO/MTP trunk cables function as a permanent link that connects MPO/MTP modules to each other. Available with 12, 24, 48 and 72 fibers, these cables are used to facilitate rapid deployment of high density backbone cabling in data centers and other high fiber environments reducing network installation or reconfiguration. A 72-fiber MPO/MTP trunk cable can be terminated with 6 MPO/MTP connectors which are manufactured specifically for multi-fiber loose tube or ribbon cable.


These cables can interconnect cassettes, panels or ruggedized MPO fan-outs, allowing for the flexibility in case any decision is made to change the connector style in the patch panels, new cassettes can be installed with the new connector style on the cross-connect side of the patch panel without having to change the connector on the cable trunk.

MPO/MTP Harness Cable
MPO/MTP harness cables provide a transition from multi-fiber cables to individual fibers or duplex connectors. They are suitable for many device needs like 100G modules, including CFP, CFP2 and CFP4 series. It provides a reliable, cost-effective cabling system for migrating from legacy 10G to higher speed 40G/100GbE. For instance, 12-fiber MPO to 4 duplex LC can be used to connect four 10G SFP+ (SFP-10G-SR) with one 40G QSFP+ (40G-QSFP-SR4).


MPO/MTP Cassette Modules
MPO/MTP cassette modules permit rapid deployment of high density data center infrastructure as well as improved troubleshooting and reconfiguration during moves, adds and changes. They enable users to take the fibers brought by a trunk cable and distribute them to a duplex cable. As already assembled units, the MPO cassette modules are fitted with 12 or 24 fibers and have LC, or SC adapters on the front side and MPO/MTP at the rear, this is to say, inside a standard LGX cassette module, there is a hydra cable.


MPO/MTP Cable Heavy Use
Now many big companies are replacing their existing infrastructure with MPO/MTP cassettes in their patch panels to route data for thousands of network electronics, all making MPO/MTP cassettes, patch-cords, connectors and adapters an essential backbone to their infrastructure. If you run one 12-fiber MPO/MTP cable from a cassette on one side of the building to one cassette on the other, you can supply data for 12 connections just like that. The high fiber count in one connector creates endless possibilities. By deploying these different types of MPO/MTP cable in different locations of a data center, there occur several solutions for structured cabling systems that are key to data centers.

Conclusion
MPO/MTP cables come as the solver to meet the demanding request for higher network capacity as data expenses than expected. Fiberstore, as a professional fiber optic product supplier, offers various high-density MPO/MTP cables, trunk and harness versions, patch cords, and cassette module all included. Besides MPO/MTP cables, other cables are also supplied, like LC ST patch cable, LC SC cable, SC SC fiber cable, and so on. You can visit Fiberstore for more information about numerous amounts of cabling assemblies.

Oznake: MPO/MTP cable, MPO/MTP patch cables, MPO/MTP trunk cables, MPO/MTP harness cables, MPO/MTP cassette modules, LC ST patch cable

Three Useful Fiber Patch Cords and Their Use

petak , 27.05.2016.

With the rapid advancement of fiber optic technology and trend towards optical communications, fiber optic patch cord has realized its great use in high speed data transmission networks, found in routers, fiber patch panels, media converters and even in hubs and switches. Compared to its previous counterpart, fiber optic jumper causes lower signal loss, delivers more bandwidth and carries more information, becoming more and more popular in cabling installation or upgrading between or inside buildings. Just like the transceiver modules which fall in many types based on different standards, fiber optic patch cables are also available in several kinds, including single-mode/multi-mode, simplex/duplex, MPO/MTP cable, armored patch cord, and so on. This article aims to introduce the last three useful fiber patch cords and their use.

Simplex/Duplex Patch Cables
Simplex cable, also known as single strand cables, has one fiber, tight-buffered (coated with a 900micron buffer over the primary buffer coating) with Kevlar (aramid fiber) strength members and jacketed for indoor use. The jacket is usually 3mm (1/8 in.) diameter, but some 2mm cable is sometimes used with small form factor connectors. Duplex (zipcord) cable has two fibers joined with a thin web.

Since simplex patch cord consists of only one fiber link, it’s used in such applications that only require one-way data transfer. But when the equipment can transmit and receive on two different wavelengths, simplex cable can also be considered. For example, transmit could be at 1310nm and receive could be at 1550nm. This application is found more with single-mode simplex patch cable.

Duplex patch cable is suitable for applications that require simultaneous, bidirectional data transfer. Typical applications include workstations, fiber switches and servers, Ethernet switches, backbone ports, and similar hardware.

MPO/MTP Cable
MPO/MTP cable uses multi-fiber MPO/MTP connectors for setting up high-performance data networks in data centers, so as to achieve greater bandwidth and handle network traffic requirements. Specifically, in MPO/MTP cable component, each one of the connector are used with ribbon type fiber optic cables which contain multi-fiber in one single jacket, so that MPO/MTP patch cord greatly saves space, very convenient to use. Based on single ferrule MT technology, the MPO/MTP cable assemblies are able to provide up to 72 fiber connections in a single point, reducing the physical space and labor requirement, while providing the same bandwidth capacity of a multi-fiber cable with individual fiber connector terminations per cable. MTP cables can be divided into trunk and harness versions (image below).


MPO/MTP patch cables have great use in Gigabit applications, especially in 40GbE. Often, MPO/MTP connectors terminate OM3 or MO4 to form structured cabling, serving as the transmission medium for 40GBASE optics (ie. QFX-QSFP-40G-SR4).

Armored Patch Cord
Armored patch cord enjoys all the features of standard fiber patch cord, available in single-mode and multi-mode version (shown below), except its much stronger characteristic. It won’t get damaged even it is stepped by an adult. What’s more, this kind of patch cord is anti-rodents, and when it’s utilized, people do not need to worry that the rodent animals like the rats may bite the cables and make them broken. Although armored fiber cables are strong, they are actually as flexible as standard fiber jumper cords, and they can be bent randomly without being broken.


Armored patch cable can be made with the similar outer diameter to the standard patch cable, which makes it a space-saving design. In addition, armored fiber cables can be with different jacket colors and jacket types, like OFNR. Light in weight, armored fiber patch cords can be with SC, ST, FC, LC, MU, SC/APC, ST/APC, FC/APC, LC/APC types of terminations.

The armored fiber optic patch cords are more robust designed, suitable to be deployed in FTTH projects inside the buildings. They use stainless steel armor inside the jacket to be resistant of high tension and pressure, able to resist the weight of an adult person.

Conclusion
Fiber optic patch cables are of great use in various conditions from local area network to airplanes, especially in communication networks in which the importance of patch cords is even more obvious. To get the high-quality patch cords, you can choose Fiberstore, which supplies a wide range of cables, including simplex/duplex, MPO/MTP cable, armored patch cord discussed in this text. Other cable types, such as push-pull patch cords, and 10G SFP+ DAC cable, are also available. If you would like to buy such a product, you can visit Fiberstore directly.

Oznake: fiber optic patch cord, fiber optic jumper, simplex/duplex, MPO/MTP cable, armored patch cord, push-pull patch cords, DAC cable