Tag Archives: LC

How to Select Fibre Patch Lead for 40G QSFP+ Modules?

As the speed changes from 1 to 10 Gbps and now increases from 10 to 40 Gbps and even 100 Gbps, data centres develop into more complex systems. So different optical technologies and cabling infrastructure are required. For 40G data rates, the special transceiver module is QSFP+ (Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus). To build 40G data centres, you need to select suitable fibre patch lead for 40G QSFP+ Modules. But how?

40G transmission network needs advanced switch, matched patch leads and transceiver modules. The quality of these connections can largely affect the reliability and stability of the whole 40G network. However, connectivity of 40G is much more complex than ever. Thus, selecting the proper fibre patch cables for 40G network is more difficult and becomes a big issue in 40G migration. As mentioned, QSFP+ transceivers are suggested for 40G, this article will provide as detailed as possible about fibre patch lead selection for 40G QSFP+ transceivers.

40G QSFP+ transceivers

Patch cable is very important to 40G network not only because the switch connections necessity, but also because of the transmission principle of the fibre optic signals and the high density trend of 40G transmission. Several important factors like cable, connector and switch port should be taken into account when selecting patch leads for 40G QSFP+ transceivers.

Single-mode or Multimode Fibre Patch Lead

Fibre patch lead is essential for the network performance. Optical signals perform differently when information transforms through the cables with different wavelengths. When people buy fibre optical patch leads for 40G QSFP+ transceiver, they often ask if a 40GBASE universal QSFP+ transceiver working on wavelength of 850nm can be used with OM1 patch leads. The answer is yes, but not suggested. Why? As the optical signal transmission distance gets shorter, the data rate increases. The transmission distance and quality would be limited by using OM1 optical cable with 40G QSFP+ transceiver. OM1 cable is only suggested for 100 Mb/s and 1000Mb/s transmission. Two upgraded cables—OM3 and OM4 are suggested for 40G QSFP+ transceivers in short distance.

IEEE has announced standards for 40G transmission in both long distance and short distance, which are 40GBASE-LR4 and 40GBASE-SR4. (LR stands for long reach and SR stands for short-reach and). For long reach, single-mode fibre is suggested for 40G transmission with the distance up to 10 km. For short reach, multimode fibre—OM3 (up to 100 metres) and OM4 (up to 150 metres) is suggested for 40G transmission. OM3 and OM4, which are usually aqua-coloured, are accepted economic solutions for 40G in short distance with lower insertion loss and higher bandwidth.

MTP or LC Fibre Patch Lead

The connector type of the patch leads should depend on the interface of 40G QSFP+ transceiver. Now there are two interfaces commonly adopted by 40G QSFP+ transceiver and they are MTP and LC. Usually 40G QSFP+ transceiver with MPO interface is designed for short transmission distance and LC for long transmission distance. However, several 40G QSFP+ transceivers like 40GBASE-PLR4 and 40GBASE-PLRL4 have MPO interfaces to support long transmission distance.

mtp and lc connectors for qsfp+

High density is the most obvious characteristic of 40G transmission, which is largely reflected in the MTP connectors on patch leads used with 40G QSFP+ transceiver. As QSFP+ transceiver uses four 10G channels, MTP cable which uses 4 pairs of fibres with can provide a time-save and stable solution for 40G QSFP+ transceivers.

Besides, 40G QSFP+ transceiver with LC interface is also available. This type of QSFP transceiver uses four lanes with each carrying 10G in 1310nm window multiplexed to achieve 40G transmission. For this type, patch cable with duplex LC connector should be used.

Switch Port

The importance of network flexibility gradually reveals as the speed of Ethernet increases. Cabling options for 40G network are 40G QSFP+ to 40G QSFP+, 40G QSFP+ to SFP+. It’s very common that 40G ports is needed to be connected with 10G port. In this case, fan out patch cable with MTP connector on one end and four LC duplex connectors on the other end is suggested.

Factors like single-mode or multimode fibre jumpers, fibre patch lead connector and switch port are important in selecting the right patch leads for 40G QSFP+ transceivers. They are closely related to the transmission distance, network flexibility and reliability of the whole 40G network. But in practical cabling for 40G QSFP+ transceivers, there are more need to be considered. Planning and designing takes a lot of time and may not achieve results good enough. However, FS.COM can solve your problems with professional one-stop service including the cost-effective and reliable network designing and 40G products.

Brief Analysis on Fibre Channel Technology

Fibre Channel is a set of advanced data transport standards that allow large amounts of data to be moved at multi-gigabit speeds between computers, servers, and other devices. Fibre Channel is widely applied because its high bandwidth, proven reliability and some other benefits. This article will talk about Fibre Channel information.

fiber-channel-network

“Fibre” and “Fiber”

You must be confused the name of this standard. Why is it called “Fibre Channel” instead of “Fiber Channel”? The words “Fiber” and “Fibre” have the same meaning (“Fiber” is the international English spelling style, while “Fibre” is British style). “Fibre Channel” is the official spelling for the technology. “Fiber” just means the transmission media used in optical connections. The term “Fibre” is used by the Fibre Channel standard to refer to all the supported physical media types.

Fibre Channel Development History

Fibre Channel started in the late 1980s as part of the IPI (intelligent peripheral interface) to increase the capabilities of the IPI protocol. Fibre Channel was approved in 1988. The development of Fibre Channel standards serves as a model for the creation of modern transfer technology. From the beginning to its approval, it has gone through a number of iterations. Since it became more interoperable with other protocols and devices, it finally got the approval of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1994.

At first, Fibre Channel was used in banks, large companies, and data centres. The installation is too complex especially when the transmitting media is optical fibre. But that bad situation has been changed. Today Fibre Channel seems to be a good choice for organizations with growing data storage needs.

Fibre Channel Benefits

Fibre Channel is more likely to be a high-speed switching system that interconnects local devices. Fibre Channel has the benefits of high speed, easy scalability, and attainable network lengths.

    • High speed. Fibre Channel can provide consistent bandwidth of 2 Gbps or 4 Gbps. The rate is expected to double in a few years to 8 Gbps. It will meet the increasing needs of network users.
    • Scalability. Fibre Channel networks perform with equal reliability, high rates, and flexible configuration. So it’s scalable up to thousands of ports even though device connections consist hundreds of integrated servers from different vendors.
    • Guaranteed in-order delivery. Fibre Channel in-order delivery of raw block data. In-order delivery greatly boosts network efficiency. And some applications like video and IP streaming require this. Fibre Channel can naturally streams video frames in order, reducing bottlenecks that would degrade the video’s required speed per second.
Fibre Channel Deployment

A successful network deployment requires a lot. You must first know your needs and decide which type of Fibre Channel is the best suitable for your network. Is it a new network or an additional one? What’s the total physical length of the network? How many devices? To answer these questions, you may consider the cabling and connector type.

fc-deployment

Cable — Copper or Fibre

It’s important to choose the right cable type for your network interconnection. To choose copper or fibre, it depends on the distances between the Fibre Channel devices being about to be connected.

Copper cable can be used for short distance. It’s typical in point-to-point and other topologies when devices are mounted in the same rack or are located in the same room. Copper cable is durable and can withstand being stepped on or pulled. It’s easy for installation and maintenance.

While, fibre optic cable is for long distance since the distance between devices become longer than before, maybe in different buildings or on different floors of a building. Compared to copper cable, fibre optic cable is immune to the electrical resistance and electromagnetic interference (EMI) which affect signals carried over copper cable. It can support higher data rates. But the problem is that the signal strength over fibre cable is easily to be damaged by the dirt, dust or other material defects in the fibre cable. So fibre optic testing is a must for high performance of the entire network. And much more cares and special tools are needed during fibre optic cable installation.

Connector

Nearly all Fibre Channel switches requires SFP transceiver modules. It’s very common to see 2G and 4G Fibre Channel SFP transceivers in the fibre optics market. For 2G and 4G FC SFPs, the interface is designed as “LC duplex”. When plug in LC patch leads, you should better avoid touching the end face of the connector to ensure the network work with long-term, consistent performance and reliability. If the cable is not preterminated, it will be more complex. You need to strip cable’s outer jacket and the fibre coating to attach the connector. All fibre optic connectors should be carefully tested after installation. If it’s possible, try to buy high quality and certified preterminated cables from reliable vendors.

Conclusion

Fibre Channel is a flexible, scalable, high-speed data transfer interface that can operate over both copper and fibre optical cable. FS.COM provides 2G and 4G Fibre Channel SFP transceivers which can support distance up to 80 km. All the transceivers have been fully tested. We also offer preterminated duplex LC patch cords for Fibre Channel deployment. For more detailed information, please contact via sales@fs.com.

 

Multimode Fibre Patch Leads from Fiberstore

Fiberstore has been providing quality fibre optical cabling and connectivity solutions to datacomm and telecommunication industries to worldwide customers for over ten years. As a specialized fibre optic cables and patch cables manufacturer, we have conducted rigorous quality controls on each manufacture steps, to make sure that all of our fibre optic cables are completely ROHS and REACH compliant. Our fibre optic patch cables are classified to common multimode fibre cables (OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 patch cables), armoured fibre patch leads, related fibre cables, MTP/MPO trunk cables, multi-core fibre patch leads as well as many other fibre patch leads. This article is set up to mainly introduce the multi-core fibre patch cords.

Multi-core fibre patch lead get its name as it is consist of multi core fibre, which also called multimode fibre patch lead. Multi fibre patch lead is most commonly used for trunk cable plant and can be as the distribution or breakout patch cable. We offer the fibre trunk patch cables with SC, LC, FC, ST, MTRJ, MU, E2000 connectors, 2-288 cores/fibres are optional to be customised and the sub-branch can be 0.9 mm and 2.0 mm.

12-fiber-mtp-om4-patch-cable

For each connector type, like LC, there are LC to FC, LC to SC, LC to ST, LC to MTRJ, LC to MU, LC to E2000, LC to SMA and LC to LC fibre cable, all of which are optically and electrically inspected and tested using accepted industry test procedures as recommended by the most current version of ANSI/TIA-455B standard test procedure for standard fibre optic lead, cables, transducers, sensors, connecting & terminating devices, and other components.

The multi fibre patch leads features include:

  • Multi-fibre channel options
  • Various option of fibre and connector types
  • Standard or custom configurations
  • Easy to use, easy to install and maintain
  • Low insertion loss and back reflection
  • Custom defined specifications
  • Environmentally stable
  • Complete with orange OFNR rated riser/jacket
  • 100% optically tested to ensure high performance
  • According to different requirements, 4 to 966 cores are available

Applications:

  • FTTH, LAN, Test equipment, Military industry
  • CATV
  • Outside plant
  • Premise networks
  • Aerial distribution
  • Measuring equipment
  • Fibre optic communication system
  • Optical active component and equipment

We offer custom service for customers with options of any fibre type, any connectors, and lengths and even customer logo and label on fibrepatch leads. Fibre types is selectable from 10G OM3, OM4 optical fibre, single mode 9/125 optical fibre, OM1, OM2 multimode 50/125 fibres.