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10G SFP+ Transceiver Modules and Patch Cords Selection Guide

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10G connection in telecommunication network is gradually moving from the backbone to layer 2 and layer 3. Both technology and market of 10G SFP+ transceiver modules are mature: the 10G transceiver modules have advanced from XENPAK which is the first generation of 10G transceiver to SFP+ which is now the most popular 10G optics. In addition, the price of 10G modules is getting lower. 10G modules are becoming affordable. Some genius guys even buy 10 SFP+ modules online to DIY private point to point 10G network. This article will offer basic information about 10G SFP+ transceiver modules and their connection instructions.
Basic of 10G SFP+ Transceiver Module
10G SFP+ transceiver has the same form factor of Gigabit SFP transceiver. Thus, many 10G modules can support 1/10G data rate to increase its flexibility during practical using. A SFP+ transceiver usually has two LC ports (as shown in the following picture). While 10G BiDi SFP+ transceiver, which transmitting and receiving signals from the same fiber optic cable, only has one LC port.
10G SFP+ transceiver and duplex patch cable
Except fiber optical transceivers, there are also various factory terminated copper-based or fiber optic based cables which are terminated with a SFP+ module on each end of the cable. There are mainly three types of these 10G cables: 10G SFP+ passive direct attached copper cable, 10G active direct attached copper cable and 10G SFP+ active optical cable. These 10G SFP+ cables eliminate the used of additional patch cable and can be directly plugged into the 10G SFP+ ports on switches. It is acceptable that these cables are an cost-effective and reliable solutions for 10G connections in short distance.
Optical Standards of 10G SFP+ Transceiver
According to IEEE standards, there are a variety 10GBASE SFP+ transceivers. For short distance transmission, 10GBASE-SR SFP+ and 10GBASE-LRM SFP+ can support transmission distance up to 300 meters and 220 meters over multimode fiber optic cables separately. 10GBASE-SR SFP+ modules is the most commonly used transceiver for short distance. It is suggested to work over wavelength of 850 nm.
There are a lot of 10G SFP+ transceivers that support long distance, like 10GBASE-LR SFP+, 10GBASE-ER SFP+, 10GBASE-ZR SFP+, CWDM SFP+, DWDM SFP+, BiDi SFP+, etc. These transceivers can support transmission distances ranging from 10 km to 120 km over single-mode fiber optic cables.
There is another special type of 10G transceivers which has been mentioned in this post, which is known as dual-rate SFP+. For example, dual-rate 1000BASE-LX and 10GBASE-LR SFP+ transceiver can be adjusted to support both 1G and 10G data rate up to 10 km over wavelength of 1310 nm.
10G BiDi SFP+ and simplex patch cable
Fiber Patch Cable Selection Guide for 10G SFP+ Transceivers
As 10G SFP+ DAC and AOC eliminate the using of additional patch cords. This part will introduce the selection guide for 10G SFP+ transceivers. During the selection of fiber optic patch cables for 10G SFP+ transceivers, the transmission distance is the first element to be considered. Single-mode patch cable is used for long distance transmission and multimode is designed for short distance transmission. Then the ports on the transceiver for receiving and transmitting should be considered. As mentioned, most 10G transceiver use duplex LC port, while BiDi SFP+ use simplex port (as shown in the above picture). Thus, simplex LC patch cords or duplex LC patch cords are used according to the port type on the transceiver. The following chart introduces detailed cabling information for 10G SFP+ transceivers.

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

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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.
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 fiber-mart.COM. Kindly visit fiber-mart.COM or contact sales@fiber-mart.com for more details.

Fiber Patch Cables for Harsh Environment

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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.
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.
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.
IP67 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.
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.

The Real Reasons Why You Need Fiber Media Converters

Network technology isn’t sexy. Debating the various forms of network technology that exists today most people don’t sit around. As boring as watching paint dry, the fact of the matter is that computer networks.

Network technology isn’t sexy. Debating the various forms of network technology that exists today most people don’t sit around. As boring as watching paint dry, the fact of the matter is that computer networks.

And the only people you might be find debating the various pros and cons are true geeks when it comes to the underlying technology of these networks.

Fiber media converters are not different. And using copper connections to maintain your network before you think that you can spend the rest of your life think again. The top 2 reasons why you might need to invest in a quality media converter must be considered.

And yes, as interesting as possible we’ll try to make this. Here we go.

Distance is the simple reason why you need a media converter. Where it’s only really good for about 300 feet Copper has intrinsic limitations. To make the network at least make it operational or really powerful after that you need to add some fiber.

You must buy fiber media converters from reputed dealers. The real reason for copper’s distance limitations probably has something to do with copper’s inherent physical properties, but regardless, when paired up with fiber a media converter will extend copper’s effectiveness.

Save some money. Everyone prefers to save some money always. There is no reason why you should completely wire your office (or building) in fiber from the start if you want to save a whole bunch of money and redo your network completely.

It will be more than worth your while if you can save substantial money by investing in a simple media converter from fiber media converters manufacturer, which is as attractive as an option as having a business that is completely fiber.

Meeting the eye at first glance there is more to media converter story. Before you invest your hard earned money and take off get informed about media converters. In the right situation, a media converter can make a lot of sense.

Fiber Optic Pigtail Technology Wiki

by http://www.fiber-mart.com

As fiber cable network is built by drawing the long lines of physical cables, it is highly impossible to lay a continuous cable end-to-end. Then there comes the optical fiber pigtail, one of the cable assemblies, has a connector on one end and a length of exposed fiber on another end to melt together with fiber optic cable. By melting together the glass fiber cable, it can reach a minimum insertion loss.
Pigtails are terminated on one end with a connector, and typically the other side is spliced to OSP (Outside Plant Cable). They may be simplex: (single fiber), or multi-fiber up to 144 fibers. Pigtails do have male and female connectors in which male connectors will be used for direct plugging of an optical transceiver while the female connectors are mounted on a wall mount or patch panel. Fiber optical pigtails are usually used to realize the connection between patch panels in a Central Office or Head End and OSP cable. Often times they may also provide a connection to another splice point outside of the Head End or central office. The purpose of this is because various jacket materials may only be used a limited distance inside the building.
You may confused the purpose between fiber optic connector, fiber optic patch cord and fiber optic pigtail. Here we will figure it out.
Fiber optic connector is used for connecting fiber. Using one or two fiber optic connectors in one cable has two items with different assistance in fiber optical solutions.
Fiber optic patch cords(or called fiber jumpers) used as a connection from a patch panel to a network element. Fiber optic patch cords, thick protective layer, generally used in the connection between the optical transceiver and the terminal box.
Fiber Optic Pigtail called pigtail line, only one end of the connector, while the other end is a cable core decapitation. Welding and connecting to other fiber optic cable core, often appear in the fiber optic terminal box, used to connect fiber optic cable, etc.
Fiber optic cable can be terminated in a cross connect patch panel using both pigtail or field-installable connector fiber termination techniques. The pigtail approach requires that a splice be made and a splice tray be used in the patch panel. The pigtail approach provides the best quality connection and is usually the quickest.
Fiber pigtails are with premium grade connectors and with typical 0.9mm outer diameter cables. Simplex fiber pigtail and duplex fiber pigtails are available, with different cable color, cable diameter and jacket types optional. The most common is known as the fusion splice on pigtail, this is done easy in field with a multi-fiber trunk to break out the multi-fibers cable into its component for connection to the end equipment. And the 12 fiber or 6 fiber multi color pigtail are easy to install and provide a premium quality fiber optic connection. Fiber optic pigtails can be with various types of fiber optic terminations such as SC, FC, ST, LC, MU, MT-RJ, MTP, MPO, etc.
Pigtails offer low insertion loss and low back-reflection. They are especially designed for high count fiber fusion splicing. Pigtails are often bought in pairs to be connected to endpoints or other fiber runs with patch cables.

Comparison of Different Types of Optical Amplifiers

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Optical amplifier is an important technology for optical communication networks. Without the need to first convert it to an electrical signal, the optical amplifiers are now used instead of repeaters. As we know, there are several types of optical amplifiers. Among them, the main amplifier technologies are Doped fiber amplifier (eg. EDFA), Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) and Fiber Raman amplifier. Today, we are going to study and compare different types of optical amplifiers in this paper.
Before the comparison of the different types of optical amplifiers, let’s take a closer look at fiber optic amplifier. In general, a repeater includes a receiver and transmitter combined in one package. The receiver converts the incoming optical energy into electrical energy. The electrical output of the receiver drives the electrical input of the transmitter. The optical output of the transmitter represents an amplified version of the optical input signal plus noise. Repeaters do not work for fiber-optic networks, where many transmitters send signals to many receivers at different bit rates and in different formats. However, unlike a repeater, an optical amplifier amplify optical signal directly without electric and electric optical transformation. In addition, an ideal optical amplifier could support multi-channel operation over as wide as possible a wavelength band, provide flat gain over a large dynamic gain range, have a high saturated output power, low noise, and effective transient suppression. Several benefits of optical amplifiers as the following:
Support any bit rate and signal format
Support the entire region of wavelengths
Increase the capacity of fiber-optic links by using WDM
Provide the capability of all-optical networks, not just point-to-point links
OK, after a brief introduction of the optical amplifiers, we formally begin today’s main topic. As we talk above, there are three main types of today’s amplifier technology. Each of them has their own working principle, features and applications. We will describe them one by one in the following paragraphs.
Doped fiber amplifier (The typical representative: EDFA)
Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is the most widely used fiber-optic amplifiers, mainly made of Erbium-doped fiber (EDF), pump light source, optical couplers, optical isolators, optical filters and other components. Among them, a trace impurity in the form of a trivalent erbium ion is inserted into the optical fiber’s silica core to alter its optical properties and permit signal amplification.
Working Principle
The working principle of the EDFA is to use the pump light sources, which most often has a wavelength around 980 nm and sometimes around 1450 nm, excites the erbium ions (Er3+) into the 4I13/2 state (in the case of 980-nm pumping via 4I11/2), from where they can amplify light in the 1.5-μm wavelength region via stimulated emission back to the ground-state manifold 4I15/2.
Semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA)
Semiconductor optical amplifier is one type of optical amplifier which use a semiconductor to provide the gain medium. They have a similar structure to Fabry–Perot laser diodes but with anti-reflection design elements at the end faces. Unlike other optical amplifiers SOAs are pumped electronically (i.e. directly via an applied current), and a separate pump laser is not required.
Fiber Raman amplifier (FRA)
Fiber Raman Amplifier (FRA) is also a relatively mature optical amplifier. In a FRA, the optical signal is amplified due to stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). In general, FRA can is divided into lumped type called LRA and distributed type called DRA. The fiber gain media of the former is generally within 10 km. In addition, it requires on higher pump power, generally in a few to a dozen watts that can produce 40 dB or even over gains. It is mainly used to amplify the optical signal band of which EDFA cannot satisfy. The fiber gain media of DRA is usually longer than LRA, generally for dozens of kilometers while pump source power is down to hundreds of megawatts. It is mainly used in DWDM communication system, auxiliarying EDFA to improve the performance of the system, inhibiting nonlinear effect, reducing the incidence of signal power, improving the signal to noise ratio and amplifing online.