Fiber Patch Panels for Ultra High Density Cabling

How to build a flexible and manageable cabling system in high density cabling environment is becoming an issue which has attracted increasing attention of many data centers. Cable management components like fiber patch panels have kept upgrading to meet the increasing needs for high density cabling. Proper using of fiber patch panels does not only provide well management for fiber patch cables in data center, but also protects the fiber patch cables and reduces the risks of faults cause by problems like bend loss, dusts and wrong connections. For ultra high density cabling like 40G and 100G connections, things would be more complex. Luckily, with clever design of fiber patch panels, customers won’t worry about fiber cable mess and faults caused by bad cable management.

Larger Fiber Count Means More Space Requirements

For 40G network, the backbone core signals are generally distributed into 4 strands of 10G signals in first. This process usually employs fanout MTP to LC fiber patch cables. For example, a 8-fiber MTP to 4 LC duplex fiber harness cable provides 8 fibers for 4 ways of duplex transmission. It means a fanout cable with a MTP connector and 8 legs terminated with LC connector added in data center for a single duplex way of 40G transmission. In data center, a lot of 40G network should be built, which means the fiber cable count will be largely increased. Not to mention the 100G applications, which will increase at least 10 fibers for every 100G signal distribution.

Using Modular Design to Reduce the Space Requirements

To solve this problem, a series of fiber patch panels have been invented for 40G and 100G signal distribution applications. Here introduce two versions of ultra high density fiber patch panels which are designed for 40G and 100G applications separately: 1U 96-fiber MTP to LC breakout fiber patch panel and 2U 160-fiber MTP to LC breakout fiber patch panel. Both of them use the industry standard rack unit design, which can be installed on any standard rack.

1U 96-Fibers MTP-LC Fiber Patch Panel for 40G Applications

The above picture shows the details of this 96-fiber breakout patch panel. On the back panel of this unit, there are 12 8-fiber MTP adapters which are separately linked 12 groups of LC duplex adapters on the front panel. Each of the 12 groups has 4 duplex LC adapters which can support 4 ways of 10G duplex transmission. Thus, the whole fiber patch panel can support up to 12*40G transmission in duplex ways. To decrease the error connections, each port has been clearly identified by numbers and groups.

160-Fiber MTP-LC Fiber Patch Panel for 100G Applications

A 160 fibers MTP to LC fiber patch panel uses a standard 2U rack design, which uses the same theory of the above mentions 96-fiber 40G fiber patch panel. The distribution of the 100G signals is generally achieved in 10*10G. There are 8 20-fiber MTP adapters on the back panel of this 100G fiber patch panel. Each of them connects a 20-fiber MTP adapter on the back panel to a group of 10 duplex LC adapters on the front panel. Thus, 8*100G duplex transmissions can be achieved with this 2U rack.

Conclusion

The above mentioned 1U 96-fibers MTP-LC fiber patch panel for 40G and 160-fiber MTP-LC fiber patch panel for 100G applications do not only decrease the space requirement for ultra high density cabling environment, but also decrease the faults caused by cable clutter, connection, disconnecting or bend loss by protecting the optical fiber in side a strong and reliable box. Kindly visit FS.COM or contact sales@fs.com for more details about ultra high density patch panels, if you are interested.

Source: http://www.fiber-optic-tutorial.com/fiber-patch-panels-ultra-high-density-cabling.html

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Cable Tie Is Not as Easy as You Think

When think of cable ties, most people would firstly thought of a bunch of self-locking throwaway plastic strips. One might think a cable tie is just a cable tie. There are many uses for cable ties. And there are also a wide variety of cable ties which are designed for different applications. The plastic self-locking cable ties are the most commonly used ones. However, even these simple plastic loops come into various types according to their color, length, width, and serrations. Proper cable ties do not only provide long-life and dependable services but also better cable management, especially in data centers and server rooms which are the worlds of various cables. To choose the right cable tie for your applications, this post would like to offer some suggestions when making your decisions.

Locking Design of Cable Tie

Self Locking Cable Tie: The most important thing of a cable tie is its locking technology. With a good locking design, cable tie can provide firm locking for the cables. The most commonly used cable tie is also called zip tie, which is one-piece design with a lot of serration on the cable tie to lock the cables firmly. The following picture shows the structure of this cable tie. This design allows the cable tie to perform to the published minimum tensile strength.

Reusable Self-Locking Cable Tie: The zip tie is easy to use and affordable. However, this type of cable tie cannot be reused, cause once the cable tie is locked it would be really hard to unlock or release it. You have to cut them down if you don’t need them. To improve this design, a little latch is added on the tongue of the cable tie, which makes the cable ties reusable. As shown in the following picture, the reusable self-locking cable tie can be easily released by pressing the latch on the tongue, which can perfectly ignore the affection of the serrations on the cable tie.

Magic Velcro Cable Tie: This type of cable tie is also reusable. The hooks and hairs on the cable tie can provide firm locking for the cables (shown in the following pictures). And it can make cable management safer and more convenient. It is also widely used in household applications to organize wires. This Velcro cable tie is usually sold in rolls.

Identification Cable Tie: the above mention cable ties are all available in different colors. Color is a useful feature for identification. Thus, customers can use cable tie in different colors for identification. However, it happens that the color is not enough for cable identification if there are too many cables or too much information. Then, an improved cable tie with a marker or label attached on the cable tie is offered (shown in the following picture).

Materials of Cable Tie

The function and performance are also largely depended on the materials of the cable ties. The above mentioned cable type are the most commonly used ones, which are usually made of plastic, Nylon and Velcro. However, for some harsh environment, elements like temperature and strength should be considered during cable tie selection. There is a type of cable tie which is made of stainless steel, usually known as heavy duty stainless steel cable tie(as shown in the following picture). It is commonly used in outdoor applications.

Other Factors to Consider During Cable Tie Selection

The length of cable ties available in market ranges from 4 to 52 inches. The cable tie length should be longer than the diameter of the cable bundle. It cannot be too long or too short. The proper width of a cable tie will also help a lot. Both the length and width of the cable ties should be depended on the applications.

Cable Ties Solutions

The above mention cable ties are all listed in the following table for your reference. You can Click HERE or contact sales@fs.com for more details about cable tie.

Products	Description
Nylon cable ties	available size: 2.5*12mm, 3.6*150mm, 4.5*120mm, 5.5*200mm; available in various colors
Velco cable tie	available size:50*100mm, 10*100mm, 30*100mm, 100*100mm, 15*100mm; available in various color
Identification cable tie	available size: 1*5/16Inch, 11/8*5/8Inch, 11/8*5/8Inch; available in various color
Reusable cable ties	available size: 8*0.19Inch, 8*0.19Inch, 10*0.19Inch, 12*0.19Inch; available in various color
Stainless steel cable tie	available size: 8Inch, 10Inch, 12Inch

Which Fiber Media Converter Is Perfect for Your Project?

Fiber media converter is a simple but useful devices that can provide conversion between fiber optic and other types of media. The most common use of fiber media converter is transmission between fiber and copper to extend the network or introduce fiber optic cabling to a copper based network. As these devices can be installed almost everywhere in the network and it is affordable, they are also being designated for many other applications. Various types of fiber media converters are provided in the market, people easily get confused during selecting the best ones for their projects. In this post, the fiber media converter selecting guide will be offered for your references.

Factors to Consider During Fiber Media Converters

To select the right fiber media converters for your project, many elements should be considered. You should firstly consider where you want to use fiber media converters and how to use them. Then, You should know the functions and characters of fiber media converters. The following will list some important factors that should be considered during fiber media converters selection.

Data Rate: the speed of the devices that fiber media converter is to connect to should be firstly considered. The most commonly used are 10/100Mpbs, 10/100/1000Mpbs, 1000Mpbs.

Fiber Type: which two different types of transmission medias should be converted between each other? For example, fiber optic to copper, single-mode fiber optic to multimode fiber optic, dual strand or single strand, etc.

Wavelength: to add the fiber media converters to a fiber optic network, the wavelength that the signal should be specified to the network and the devices.

Port Type and Port Number: fiber media converter also have various port type. The most commonly used types for fiber optic on the fiber media converters are ST, SC and SFP. The number of the power should depend on the applications.

Transmission Distance: the transmission distances of a pair of fiber media converter are also various and can satisfy various requirements from 2km to 15km or more.

PoE Function: PoE fiber media converter can fully satisfy the need to be powered in physical locations where main power is not available or difficult to deliver.

Power Requirement: the most commonly used are AC power supply, DC power supply,, internal power supply, and external power supply.

Fiber Media Converters According to Applications

The above mentioned are the basic factors that should be considered during selection. However, as mentioned the applications are also very important. To offer a more simple and direct way for fiber media selection. Here collected the different fiber media converters and divided them according to their applications. Click the fiber media type in the following table, you can find the fiber media converters belong to this catalog, with their specifications and prices in details.

Fiber to RJ45 Converters	SFP Ethernet Converters
OEO Converters	Mode Converters
Managed Ethernet Converters	Power over Ethernet Products
Fiber Video Converters	PDH E1 & Serial Converters

Understand 100G Ethernet Standards

People want 100G Ethernet, meanwhile, they want to reduce the cost and increase the port density to the most. Driven by the combination of elements like that, 100G Ethernet standards and related optical transceivers have improved a lot in the past few years. As so many 100G Ethernet standards and package form factors are used, people might be confused by them easily. This post offers a detailed introduction about 100G Ethernet standards.

The first 100G Ethernet standard was approved in 2010. After that tremendous changes have happened in 100G technology in many aspects. The first generation of the 100G standards use the 10x10G lane in electrical signaling. For media signaling, some use 10x10G and some use 4x10G. The second generation 100G Ethernet standards apply 4x10G signaling for both electrical and media. In terms of transmission distances, different standards can support different transmission distance. Now there are more choices for transmission distances ranging from 1 meter to 40 kilometers. Meanwhile, the package form factors also changed a lot. The first 100G transceivers CFP is much larger than that of the new one QSFP28. To offer an intuitive way to illustrate these 100G Ethernet standards, I will list them in the following table.

Name	Distance	Media Type	Module Type	Media Signaling	Electrical Signaling	Standard
100GBASE-KP4	1m	Backplane	Backplane	4x25	4x25	June 2014 IEEE 802.3bj
100GBASE-KR4	1m	Backplane	Backplane	4x25	4x25	June 2014 IEEE 802.3bj
100GBASE-CR4	5m	Twinax Copper	CFP2, CFP4 QSFP28	4x25	10x10	June 2014 IEEE 802.3bj
100GBASE-CR10	7m	Twinax Copper	CXP, CFP2 CFP4, QSFP28	10x10	4x25	June 2010 IEEE 802.3ba
100GBASE-SR4	OM3: 70m OM4: 100m	Parallel MMF	CFP2, CFP4 CPAK, QSFP28	4x25	10x10	March 2015 IEEE 802.3bm
100GBASE-SR10	OM3: 100m OM4: 150m	Parallel MMF	CFP, CFP2, CFP4 CPAK, CXP	10x10	10x10	June 2010 IEEE 802.3ba
10x10-2km	2km	Duplex SMF	CFP	10x10	10x10	March 2011 10x10 MSA
10x10-10km	10km	Duplex SMF	CFP	10x10	10x10	August 2011 10x10 MSA
100GBASE-LR4	10km	Duplex SMF	CFP, CFP2, CFP4 CPAK, QSFP28	4x25	10x10	June 2010 IEEE 802.3ba
10x10-40km	40km	Duplex SMF	CFP	10x10	10x10	August 2011 10x10 MSA
100GBASE-ER4	40km	Duplex SMF	CFP, CFP2	4x25	10x10	June 2010 IEEE 802.3ba

The above table contains the 100G standards that published by IEEE and MSA, which are listed by the transmission distance from the top to the bottom. According to reports from many marketing reports, 100G optical component market will surge in 2016. FS.COM provide 100G solutions including transceivers, patch cable, cable management products, etc. Kindly contact sales@fs.com or visit FS.COM for more details about 100G Ethernet and products, if you are interested.

This post is originally published at: http://www.fiber-optic-tutorial.com/understand-100g-ethernet-standards.html

How to Connect Fiber Media Converter to Network

Fiber media converter is a device which can connect two types of medias, like copper to fiber optic and single-mode fiber to multimode fiber. As a cost-effective device that can connect two dissimilar cable media, it has been widely used in today’s network, especially FTTH systems. Although fiber media converters come into various types according to the parameters like data rate, interfaces, form factors, power options and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the purposes to use fiber media converters in networks are usually simple. They are often used in pairs to extend a network over fiber by inserting a fiber segment into a copper network, or be used individually to accomplish the conversion between two different cable types. This post will introduce the connection guide of fiber media converters.

Interface Types of Fiber Media Converters

Before connecting fiber media converters, the interface of them should be firstly acknowledged. The following picture shows the most commonly used connectors that a fiber media converters may use. The ST connector is designed for fiber using a bayonet locking system. SC connector and LC connector are the most popular small-form-factor fiber connectors. The MT-RJ connector is a RJ-style connector which has a molded body. The RJ45 is the familiar to most people, which is designed for copper cable and can be found on most of our devices that need to be connected to the Ethernet. The above mentioned interfaces of the fiber media converters can be connected to the target devices directly by patch cords. However, for SFP, SFP+ and XFP transceivers, there are two methods for connecting the media converters to the network. The connection methods will be introduced in the following.

Connecting Fiber Media Converters to Network

There is one of the most important things about fiber media converters, which is they are often used in pairs. The two fiber media converters should be connected to each other for single transmission and conversion.

The above picture shows an application example of fiber media converters. For fiber media converters with fiber optic interface of LC/ST/SC/MT-RJ, the interfaces on the two media converters can be connected directly by a length of fiber optic patch cable that has the corresponding connector type. The RJ45 port of each media converter is connected to 10/100Base-TX HUB and computer server separately. The two fiber media converters should be supported by electricity.

For fiber media converter that has a SFP/SFP+ or XFP transceiver interface. The connection between the two media converters is a little bit different from the others. Two optical transceivers are needed. Additional optical transceiver should be inserted to the port firstly and then the two media converter should be connected via ports of the two optical transceivers. If the port support 10G and the transmission distance between the two converters is less than 100 meters, then a length of SFP+ to SFP+ AOC can be used.

Conclusion

The above mentioned fiber media converters connections are just the most basic methods. As there are a variety of media converters and their functions are different from each other. Connecting the fiber media converters largely depends on the practical using. Kindly visit FS.COM or contact sales@fs.com for more details. Our professional sales and technical support are willing to solve your problems about media converters.

Source: http://www.fiber-optic-tutorial.com/how-to-connect-fiber-media-converter-to-network.html

Commonly Used Fiber Optic Cleaners

As cleanliness of the interfaces in fiber optic networks can directly affect the transmission quality, fiber optic cleaning is a must-have process during fiber optic network installation, testing and maintenance. You should always keep it in mind. You need to clean the fiber optic interface on the test equipment and fiber optic connectors before you actually doing the test. You need to clean the fiber optic connector or interfaces regularly in your daily maintenance. Various fiber optic cleaning methods are created. No matter you use dry cleaning or wet cleaning, basic tools are needed. However, we might be confused during the selecting of the fiber optic cleaning tools, cause there are so many different kinds of fiber optic connectors, interfaces and working environments. This post is to introduce the most commonly used fiber optic cleaners for different kinds fiber optic connectors.

One-Click Fiber Optic Cleaner

One-click fiber optic cleaner is one of the most popular fiber optic cleaner which eliminate the use of alcohol or solvents. Thus, it can save time efficiently with excellent performance. I would like to call it “Click and Cleaned”. Here I will introduce how to used one click fiber optic cleaner firstly.

The following picture is the top of an one-click connector, the cleaning tip of the cleaner is covered with a guide cap for fiber optic connectors. A cover is on the top of the guide cap, which can provide protection to the cleaning tip combining with the guide cap.

If you need to clean a fiber optic connector, the guide cap plays the function of a fiber optic adapter. Insert the cleaning tip into the connector with the guide cap as shown in the following picture, and press the cleaner until you hear a click. Then a cleaning is done by fiber optic cleaner.

If you need to clean a fiber optic adapter, you should firstly remove the whole guide cap on the one-click cleaner. Then insert the cleaning tip into the adapter as shown in the following picture. Just by simple pressing, until you hear the click, a cleaning for a fiber optic adapter is done. It is very useful during test, cause the test equipment usually have an interface of adapter.

Different types of connectors might have ferrules of different sizes. Thus, there are also accordance fiber optic cleaners for various connectors. Introduces several popular one-click fiber optic cleaners for different connectors.

One-Click Cleaner for LC/MU 1.25mm Ferrules

• Price: $19.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLK-1.25
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: LC, MU
• Cleaning Times: Over 800 times per unit

One-Click Cleaner for SC/ST/FC 2.5mm Ferrules

• Price: $19.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLK-2.5
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: SC, ST, FC
• Cleaning Times: Over 800 times per unit

One-Click Cleaner for MTP/MPO Connector  

• Price: $48.00
• Item Part Number: CLE-MPO-600
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: MPO/MTP
• Cleaning Times: Over 600 times per unit

Reel-Type Fiber Optic Cleaner

Reel-type fiber optic cleaner contains a refillable lint free reel of cloth that is moved after each cleaning, always presenting a clean surface. Reel-type fiber optic cleaners come in different package forms, but most of them are cassette form.

This type of fiber optic cleaner is able to clean a wide rage of fiber optic connectors, which also avoid the using of alcohol or solvents. The following shows the basic structure of a reel-type fiber optic cleaner and its replacement tape. The cleaning with this cleaner is also very simple. Firstly depress lever to expose cleaning slot and cloth. Second, slide the connector end face gently. Third, keep connector perpendicular to cleaning surface. Then a cleaning is done.

CLE-BOX Fiber Optic Cassette Cleaner for LC/MU/SC/FC/ST/MPO/MTRJ

• Price: $21.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLE-BOX
• Package Form: Cassette cleaner
• Target Use: LC, MU, SC, FC, ST, MPO, MTRJ
• Cleaning Times: Over 500 times per unit

Replacement Tape for CLE-BOX Fiber Optic Cassette Cleaner

• Price: $16.00
• Item Part Number: CLE-BOX-RT
• Package Form: Cassette cleaner
• Target Use: Replace tape for cassette cleaner
• Cleaning Times: Over 500 times per unit

The above mentioned fiber optic cleaners are just a small part of the cleaning product family and are generally for dry cleaning. Kindly visit FS.COM or contact sales@fs.com for more details about the wet cleaning for other fiber optic cleaning products.

Source: http://www.fiber-optic-tutorial.com/commonly-used-fiber-optic-cleaners.html