Category: Fiber Transceivers

Optical transceivers, Active Optic Cables, data center switches, and cable management in data centers.

Types of data cables

The structured cabling market is estimated to be worth over $4.5 billion worldwide. Ethernet cabling has seen a lot of transition in the last decade especially notably in the last 5 years where internet bandwidth has the most important and trending topic of our times. Category 5e and Category 6 cables still rule the chart when it comes to installing or running new data cabling.
Cat5e : Category 5e is also know as enhanced Category 5 data cable was approved in year 1999 with the TIA/EIA-568-A-5 addendum of the cabling Standard. Cat5e has a rated bandwidth of 100MHz, it has been the eye candy of cabling Installers for over 20 years. This type of cable is more suitable for high-speed applications such as Gigabit Ethernet.
Cat6: Category 6 cabling was officially recognized with the publication of an addition to ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B in June 2002. In addition to more stringent performance requirements as compared to Category 5e, it extends the usable bandwidth to 200MHz with reduced crosstalk.
All these ethernet cables come in several shapes and material. Broadly, these cables can be categorized into the following:
Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) : These cables are inexpensive as compared to STP and also simple to install. UTP cabling typically has only an outer covering (jacket) consisting of some type of nonconducting material. This jacket covers one or more pairs of wire that are twisted together
Shielded twisted pair (STP): These cables have a metallic foil shield around and provides considerable protection against electromagnetic interference (EMI.)
Apart from the above types, the Cables can also be classified based on their Material and usage type:
CMP: Plenum rated cable (plenum means “air handling space”)
CMR: Riser rated cable for the floors
LSZH: Low smoke zero halogen rated cable
CM/CMG/CMx: General purpose cable
PVC: Unrated cable
PVC Cable is the most common type of cable used today but is not fire rated. Plenum rated cables on the other hand special coating on the wire, which causes it to burn at a much higher temperature and emits fewer fumes than conventional PVC.. are have a ceiling, having PVC cable in the ceiling during a fire would cause a concentration of these fumes to be spread throughout the building. The National Electric Code (NEC) requires that only plenum rated cables be installed in plenum air spaces.
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Data Center Cabling Standards

The Beginnings of the Computer Era – A Dedicated Room
While the data centre as we know it was perfected during the dot com boom of the late 1990s, data centres actually have their roots in the earliest beginnings of the computer era. Early computer systems, which were huge, room-sized machines, required a lot of space and controlled environment. The complexity of operating and maintaining these machines also led to the practice of secluding. The complexity of operation and maintaining these machines also led to the practice of secluding them in dedicated rooms.
Computer security became a consideration during this era. These early computers were incredibly expensive, and many of them were used for military purposes or important civilian business ventures. A dedicated room allowed businesses and organizations to control access to the machine.
Another factor influencing the trend toward separate computer rooms was the need to keep systems cool. Early computers systems used a great deal of power and were prone to overheating. Dedicated rooms could be climate controlled to compensate for the tendency to overheat.
These early computers required a multitude of component-connecting cables, and these cables needed to be organized. This led to the creation of some of the data center standards we know today. Racks were devised to mount equipment, and cable trays were created. Also, floors were elevated to accommodate these early computers.
The Advent of Microcomputers
During the 1980s, the computer industry experienced the boom of the microcomputer era. In the excitement accompanying this boom, computers were installed everywhere, and little thought was given to the specific environmental and operating requirements of the machines.
Organization of information was difficult to achieve, and lost data become a major concern. Information technology teams were developed to maintain and install these early microcomputers, but clearly, the industry needed a solution.
The “Data Center” is Created
Soon the complexity of information technology systems demanded a more controlled environment for IT systems. In the 1990s, client-server networking became an establish standard. The servers for these systems began to find a home in the old dedicated computer rooms left from the early computers.
In addition to putting servers in a dedicated room, this time period saw the invention of the hierarchical design. This design came about through the easy accessibility of inexpensive networking equipment and industry standards for network cabling.
The term “data center” first gained popularity during this era. Data centres referenced which were specially designed to house computers and were dedicated to that purpose.
As the dot com bubble grew, companies began to understand the importance of having an internet presence. Establishing this presence required that companies have fast and reliable Internet connectivity. They also had to have the capability to operate 24 hours a day in order to deploy new systems.
Soon, these new requirements resulted in the construction of extremely large data facilities. These facilities, called “Internet data centres” were responsible for the operation of computer systems within a company and the deployment of new systems. These large data centres revolutionized technologies and operating practices within the industry.
However, not all companies could afford to operate a huge Internet data center. The physical space, equipment requirements, and highly-trained staff made these large data centres extremely expensive and sometimes impractical.
Now – Private Data Centres, Improved Standards
Private data centres were born out of this need for an affordable Internet data centre solution. Today’s private data centres allow small business to have access to the benefits of the large Internet data centres without the expense of upkeep and the sacrifice of valuable physical space.
These days, operating and constructing data centres is a widely-recognized industry. New standards for documentation and system requirements add a high level of consistency to data centre design. Disaster recovery plans and operational availability metrics ensure the reliability of today’s data centre systems.
What the Future Holds
The future of data centre design is likely to reflect today’s emphasis on green practices. Environmentally responsible computer and networking systems, as well as refined operation practice, are likely to shape the data centres of the future.
Managed Hosting providing delivers a “higher level” of managed IT services for deploying and hosting e-business, security, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions for the mission-critical applications.
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Why Rated Plenum Cabling for Your Office

Computer network consists of seven layers. At the bottom, providing the foundation for everything, is the so-called physical layer, which means cabling. A good cable plant is a dream. A bad one is a nightmare.
Today’s networks usually employ UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cable. It resembles, but should never be confused with, telephone cable. The tight twist of each pair is tightly spec’d and is what gives it noise immunity. For most data networks, Category 5e or 6 rated UTP cable is used. Our recommendation is that in new construction, all communication cable, whether intended for data or voice, should be at least Category 6 UTP. The cable that’s permanently installed in walls, ceiling, and floors should be solid (not stranded) conductor.
In special cases, STP (shielded twisted pair) may be needed. In high electrical noise environments, or for vertical runs in tall buildings, or between buildings, fiber optic cable makes sense. Today, short runs of fiber optic cable consist of low-cost plastic (not glass) fibers with low cost light sources, in multi-mode. (The light beam is allowed to bounce around within the fiber; it’s lossy, but who cares, over distances less than a thousand feet?) Using fiber, rather than copper, between buildings eliminates electrical hazards caused by lightning strikes an earth differential voltage between buildings.
Plenum rated cable
Regardless of whether you run UTP, STP, or fiber optic cable in your building, the new cable must confirm to local building and fire codes. This often means that if the cable runs within the space above false ceilings is used to carry return air back to an air handler. In these cases, Plenum rated cable must be used. If your building has separate air return ducts, you may not need to use plenum rated cable; Check with your local building code enforcement authority before buying cable.
Structured Cabling
The correct way to cable a building is to install outlet boxes with quad RJ-45 wallplates in each office. Pull all the cables from all offices on each floor back to a central wire closet. (These are called “home runs”.) Number all cables consecutively with several number tags on each cable — especially their ends.
The closet should contain a 19 inch wide open relay rack with Category 5 or better RJ-45 connector panels. While connectorizing the cables, label each connector with its cable number.
Within the rack we’ll mount switches and / or routers as needed. The telephone PBX should be mounted in the closet or co-located with the file servers. We’ll use short stranded wire Category 5 or better patch cables between the connector panels and switches and telephone PBX as needed.
At each quad category 5 RJ45 wallplate, label each RJ45 connector with its cable number.
The result is that in each office, any of the four RJ-45 connectors can carry anything from the wire closet;
Inside phone, outside phone, Internet, local area network, data terminal traffic, etcetera. At any time, any of the RJ-45 connectors can be reconfigured just by moving patch cables inside the wire closet.
Within each office, just use a short flexible Category 5e patch cable to connect the computer, telephone, etcetera to the appropriate RJ-45 connector in the wallplate.
In practice, many offices will need two or even more quad wallplates, to allow easy movement of furniture in the future. It’s a pleasure to work within a building with structured cabling, because people, computers, phones, and furniture may be moved where needed.
If your budget is tight, dual or triple (instead of quad) RJ-45 wallplates may be substituted, if some loss of flexibility is acceptable.
Cable plant certification will certify cable plant to Category 5 or higher standards. They use specialized test sets to perform the certification, which often can produce printed output or talk to PC. I recommend having your cable plant certified, for two reasons:
The certification process will find weak spot in the cable run, which can be repaired before they cause trouble.
It documents the electrical length of each cable run. If you save this record (perhaps by importing it into a spreadsheet), when you suspect that a cable run has been cut or damaged, you can electrically measure its length and compare you results with cable’s electrical length when it was certified. This will point you toward the cable fault.
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Popular Fiber Cabling Connectors

Fiber connectors are basically plugs joined to the end of a Fiber cable to make a Fiber connection.  There are different types of Fiber connectors available in the market and we will showcase some of the most popular connectors from all major manufacturers such as Corning, Belden, Hubbell, Commscope, Siemon, Panduit, Leviton and more.
CORNING 95-000-99 UniCam LC, 62.5 µm multimode (OM1)
This is a popular Single mode Blue colored connector with LC Connector Type having Ceramic Ferrule suitable for Single mode OS2 Fiber cables. These Single pack LC connectors are sold with one 900 µm boot, one 2.0/1.6 boot, and one 2.9 mm boot; Single pack SC and ST Compatible Connectors are sold with one 900 µm boot and one 2.9 mm boot. Organizer packs include 900 µm boots only.
BELDEN AX105202-S1 LC Connector Multimode OM3/OM4 50 µm
This is a CORNING Field-Installable LC connector for multimode Fiber cables 62.5 µm MM (OM1), Single pack LC connectors are sold with one 900 µm boot, one 2.0/1.6 boot, and one 2.9 mm boot; Single pack SC and ST Compatible Connectors are sold with one 900 µm boot and one 2.9 mm boot. Organizer packs include 900 µm boots only.
This is Belden LC connector for Multimode OM3/OM4 50 µm Fiber cables.
COMMSCOPE SFC-LCF-09-8X Teraspeed Fiber Qwik II-LC Connector
From CommScope, here is the Qwik-LC II Connector that comes factory pre-polished field installable connectors that eliminate the need for hand polishing in the field. This is  a TeraSPEED®, zero water peak singlemode fiber (G.652.D, G.657.A1 or G.652.D,  G.657.A1 | OS2) with Zirconia being used as Ferrule Material.
BELDEN AX105252-S1 Universal LC Connector, OM4 Multimode
From Belden, we have an OM4 MM connector that comes in Erika violet housing 1/Pack, with support for 250 um (using Breakout kit), 900 um, 2 mm and 3 mm fiber (using jacketed boots). Includes 900 um boot, other accessories (Breakout Kit & jacketed boots) sold separately.
From LEVITON this is 49990-LDL Fast-Cure LC Fiber Optic Connector which comes in Aqua colour and supports OM3/4 Laser Optimized Multimode, For 900um Application.

MTP fiber cable assembly to what kind of LC connectors?

Here we go again, changing things when a traditional LC connector worked just fine, or did it? Over the past couple of years the convenience of a small footprint by the LC connector has been evolving due to manufactures battling for your data center dollars. Let’s quickly go over the different types of connectors.
1) LC Traditional Duplex – This has been the most popular LC duplex connector since the dawn of time. A simple yet effective design by tightly holding 2 individual strands of terminated LC simplex connectors. A small clip is used to hold the connectors together and also offers a press down tab to easily remove the connectors from the port. Can you remove the small clip? Sure, but it’s a chore and you’ll destroy it.
2)  LC AFOP Duplex – The AFOP LC duplex has almost everything in common as your LC traditional duplex but the connectors are easily removed and reattached. If your in a busy closet you might have to move single a strand around, especially in an emergency or maybe reverse the polarity. A small clip is used to hold the connectors together, also offers a press down tab to easily remove the connectors from the port and has openings on the sides to allow you to separate the connectors and put them back together.
3) LC Generic UNIBOOT – The LC connector portion of the UNIBOOT is similar to the LC traditional duplex connector, but the main difference is that you have 2 strands of fiber now in one jacket. Since your now saving space in your cable raceway you can add more cables in the same size raceway or save on cost by installing a smaller raceway. This is an excellent choice for high density applications.
4) LC SANWA UNIBOOT – This connector is named after the the manufacture SANWA and truthfully after playing with this connector vs. the generic UNIBOOT I can’t tell the difference, until I grabbed an additional tool that cracks this connector open. After opening it you can reverse the polarity easily! Check the video out. I’ve also seen this connector specified on many Verizon projects.
5) LC UNIVERSAL – This connector is a proprietary connector. Accepts the traditional size LC connector but also accepts the “MINI LC” for small footprint mini SFP (mSFP) ports. I thought the LC connector was small enough already but space is money. Currently these “High Density MINI LC” connectors are commonly installed and designed to work with Brocade’s FC8-64 high density 64 port blade.

What is and What Size is your Fiber Optic Cable Buffer

there are two different sizes to your fiber optic cable buffer but before we do a comparison of the two sizes I want to talk about why there’s two and what fiber cable construction type is associated with one or the other.
The first fiber cable construction I want to talk about is “Loose Tube”. These cables are mostly installed in outdoor only installations. Such as direct burial, pole to pole and anywhere else where most if not all the cable is outdoors. This cable construction is more durable and offers a higher pulling tension. I recently talked with AFL and I wanted to know what the life expectancy is for this type of cable construction and they mentioned that it all depends on the environment but a good estimate is 30 years.
Another easy way to tell if you have a loose tube fiber optic cable is to read the print on the cable jacket and many cables will have the letters LT on it letting you know it’s a loose tube, this cable construction always has a 250um size buffer. I say always because I’ve been selling fiber since 1999 and I don’t remember ever seeing a loose tube with a 900um size buffer. Just makes sense, with a smaller size you can get more strands in a smaller tube hence the 250um size.
So that leads us to the 900um size buffer. This size is commonly found with a distribution cable construction. This is most commonly installed in underground conduits for building to building installations and indoors for riser and plenum installations. It has a smaller diameter, more flexible, lighter and overall just more pleasant to work with. Let’s get a look at a distribution cable.
Now that you have a better feel for what size buffer you have before even stripping the jacket let’s get a look at what these two sizes look like to the naked eye.
That was a great comparison of the two sizes that are involved with your fiber optic cable. As you can tell after stripping the buffer off the cladding the cladding size is the same, the 125um size. If you’re asking yourself what is under the 125um size you then have what’s called the cladding and then your core. The core is where your signal is transmitted. For Multimode your core size will be either 62.5 or 50.0 and for singlemode, it’ll be 9.0.
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