Category: Fiber Transceivers

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

How to Connect CAT5e and CAT6 Cable

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

Thus far in past blog articles we’ve focused on the different types of networked infrastructures, the need for UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable, the various do’s and don’ts associated with the handling and installation; and how UTP, as a balanced line cable, is able to reject RFI  (Radio Frequency Interference) and EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). In this blog article we’ll discuss the termination of UTP at the head end as well as the plugs and jacks at the edge of a network.
If you recall, in a past blog post, we discussed where the standards that fuel and control the implementation of network Ethernet cabling and all connected devices come from. If you recall, it is the Electronics Association/Telecommunications Industries Association, also known by its acronym, EIA/TIA. The standard itself that largely controls how devices are wired is the “Commercial Building Telecommunications Standard.”
The two primary UTP cable types that commonly are used in computer networks are CAT5e (Category 5e) and CAT6, both of which are balanced lines. They support 10/100 Mbps–up to 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps respectively.
If you are looking for cable for security purposes, such as access control and video surveillance, CAT5e will usually do the job. However, if you intend to use it for 4K and 8K, then perhaps CAT6 is a better choice, especially if you want to future-proof your installation. In addition, an important thing to remember is to match the jacks, plugs, patch panels, and other connected devices with others that are rated the same as the cable in use.
Making the CAT5e or CAT6 Connection
Whether it’s CAT5e or CAT6, there are 4 pairs of conductors that you need to contend with (see illustration). They are:
Pair 1: White-Blue/Blue
Pair 2: White-Orange/Orange
Pair 3: White-Green/Green
Pair 4: White-Brown/Brown
These four cable pairs, be it CAT5e or CAT6, connect to plugs and jacks according to two connection standards known as T568A and T568B. The latter also is referred to as the AT&T standard.
The primary difference between the two is in how positions 1, 2, 3, and 6 are wired (see illustration) with regards to Pairs2 and 3. Using the T568A standard, Pair 2 connects to positions 3 and 6 while Pair  3 connects to positions 1 and 2.Using the AT&T configuration, Pair 2 connects to positions 1 and 2 while Pair 3 uses positions 3 and 6.
Does it matter which standard you use? Not really, but once you start using a specific connector configuration on a job,you must continue using it throughout the project. With that said, if you’re adding to an existing installation, you must check the existing connections to determine which configuration that the installer used. Most of the time you will use T568A because it’s used by more techs than the T568B, even AT&T techs.
When making a connection using either configuration, remember to do so without unduly untwisting each wire pair. If you do, it will adversely affect the performance of the wire in general. Keep the integrity of the twist as close to the plug, jack, patch panel, etc., as possible to maintain the CAT5e or CAT6 performance.
There are four twisted pairs of conductors in a Category 5e or Category 6 UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable. Although there are other color code standards in place, this is the most common color code configuration in use.
There are two methods of connecting Category 5e and Category 6 cable to plugs, jacks, patch bays, and other devices. The T568A is the most commonly used configuration today.

How to clean the Optical Transceiver

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

We have always emphasized that proper fiber cleaning of connector end-face is very important to ensure the performance of the whole fiber systems. In fact, optical transceiver module is no exception as the contamination of the optical port of a transceiver will also lead to network failure. However, many people overlook the importance of optical transceiver cleaning or do not clean it in a proper way. This is why I want to talk this topic today.
When to Clean?
As we know, the connector end-face of fiber jumper is always recommended to clean before connection. But the optical port of the optical transceiver should not need frequent cleaning unless there is a problem because they have less risk of being contaminated compared to jumper. In general, if you have cleaned your connectors, but still experience low-power output from an optical transceiver or a fault signal from your equipment, you should clean the optical port of the transceiver.
How to Clean
The best way to clean the optical port of a transceiver is to use the air duster (also called clean dry air) to blow away small dust particles. In addition, lint-free stick/swab is also required for dry cleaning. The detailed cleaning procedure is shown as below:
Remove the dust cap from the optical transceiver.
Use an air duster to remove any dirt or particles.
Insert a lint-free stick of the appropriate size (2.5 mm or 1.25 mm) and turn clockwise. Dry cleaning is recommended here. Thus, Don’t use alcohol-based cleaning sticks.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 if necessary.
Remove the lint-free stick and reinsert the dust cap to the transceiver. Always keep the dust cap inserted in the transceiver when not in use.
Place the transceiver on a clean and static-free area, such as an antistatic mat.
Optical ports of transceivers also require proper cleaning to ensure the fiber transmission performance. It is recommended to clean the transceiver port when there is an error on port. Dry cleaning is recommended to use with air duster and lint-free. Moreover, cross contamination should be avoided by always using cleaned jumper.

What should to do Before Selecting Fiber Cables

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

Sorting through cables and connectivity options could be a frustrating exercise. It’s hard enough working through the categories and levels of copper networking cables, where most cables end with similar connector. What happens when you start looking at fiber cables? This is where things can definitely get confusing! This article tells you how to select the right kind of fiber cables.
Let’s move on off by saying that fiber optic cables can be used in a huge variety of applications, from small office LANs, to data centers, to inter-continental communication links. The information lines that connect between North America and Europe, for example, are constructed with fiber optic cable strung underneath the ocean. Our discussion in this article will focus mainly on the kinds of cables present in those small-scale networks closer to home, and in particular to pre-terminated cables which may be designed for installation, called “patch cords”, “pre-terms”, or any other similar nicknames like fiber patch cables. Prior to you buying, you should make clear the following parameters.
Multimode and Single mode
One of the first things to determine when selecting fiber optic cables is the “mode” of fiber that you’ll require. The mode of a fiber cable describes how light beams travel within the fiber cables themselves. It’s important because the two modes aren’t compatible with each other, which means that you can’t substitute one for that other.
There’s really not much variety with single mode patch cords, but there’s for multimode. You will find varieties described as OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4 (OM means the “optical mode”). Basically, these varieties have different capabilities around speed, bandwidth, and distance, and the right type to make use of will be based mostly upon the hardware that is being used with them, and any other fiber the patch cords will be connecting to.
Fiber Optic Cable Jackets
Pre-term fiber can be used in a variety of installation environments, and as a result, may need different jacket materials. The standard jacket type is called OFNR, which means “Optical Fiber Non-conductive Riser”. This can be a long-winded way of saying, there’s no metal in it, so it won’t conduct stray electrical current, and it can be installed in a riser application (going in one floor up to the next, for instance). Patch cords are also available with OFNP, or plenum jackets, which are ideal for use in plenum environments for example drop-ceilings or raised floors. Many data centers and server rooms have requirements for plenum-rated cables, and also the local fire codes will invariably have the final say in what jacket type is required. The ultimate choice for jacket type is LSZH, which means “Low Smoke Zero Halogen”, that is a jacket produced from special compounds that provide off very little smoke with no toxic halogenic compounds when burned. Again, seek advice from the neighborhood fire code authority to be certain of the requirements from the installation before making the jacket selection.
Simplex and Duplex
Simplex and duplex have only the difference between one fiber or two, and between one connector at each end of the cable, or two connectors each and every end. Duplex patch cords are the most common type, because the method in which most fiber electronics work is they need two fibers to speak. One is used to transmit data signals, and the other receives them. However, sometimes, just one fiber is required, so simplex patch cords may be essential for certain applications. If you aren’t sure, you can always be on the safe side by ordering duplex patch cords, and just one of these two fibers.
Fiber Optic Cable Connectors
Remember what we should said at first about copper category cables? No matter what level of twisted pair you were coping with (Cat 5, 5e, etc), you always knew you would be dealing with an 8-position modular RJ-45 plug around the end from the cable. Well, with fiber patch cords, there is a few possibilities when it comes to connectors. The common connector types are FC, LC, SC, ST and MTRJ etc..
These are the most typical selections that you will find when choosing amongst patch cords. If you’re able to determine which of these characteristics you need, it is highly likely you will make the right choice when custom fiber optic cables with suitable parameters.

Applications of PLC Splitters

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

As one of the most important component of PON (Passive Optical Network) system. The market of fiber optic splitters has grown rapidly. The most commonly used type of fiber optic splitters are FBT (Fused Biconical Taper) coupler splitter and PLC (Planar Lightwave Circuit) splitters. But with the maturity and development of the splitter producing process, the cost of PLC splitter is close to FBT splitter’s. Thus, people are more prefered to use PLC splitters instead of FBT splitters because of the better performance of PLC splitters. In today’s market, there are many package type of PLC splitters which are designed for different applications. Today, we talk about something about the package type of PLC splitters.
If you are the newbie and first time to buy PLC splitters, you might be curious about the package type of the splitters. Actually, it is not as complex as you think. At present, there are six major package type of PLC splitters according to different applications, i.e. bare fiber splitter, module splitter, rack-mount splitter, fan-out & blockless splitter, Tray splitter and LGX splitter. Of course, these five types are the basic type and there are upgrade version on their foundation offered by different vendors. For example, the following shows us the PLC splitters of Fiberstore with different package types.
Bare fiber optical splitter
ABS splitters
Blockless fiber splitter
Fanout splitter
Tray splitter
Rack-mount splitter
LGX splitters
PLC splitter in mini plug-in type
The bare fiber splitter is a type of splitters without connectors. Its input and output are designed with bare fibers (generally use ribbon fiber to output). Bare fiber splitters are used for small spaces that can be easily placed in a formal joint boxes and splice closure. In order to facilitate welding, it does not need specially designed for space reserved.
Module splitter, also called cassette splitter, is designed with direct 2.0nm or 3.0nm fiber output. This type of splitter is usually used for patch panel use, such as network cabinet and optical distribution box. It does also need to splice and can better protect the fiber when using. The typical type of module splitter is with ABS box package.
Rack-mount splitter is splitter designed in 19 rack mount metal box. In general, it is with fiber optic adapter in the front panel. Rack-mount splitter is used in 19″ ODF (Optical Distribution Frame).
Blockless fiber splitter and Fan-out splitter are generally called Mini fiber splitter. The former is designed as direct 900μm buffered fiber output pigtail. The latter is designed with 900μm buffered fiber input and fan-out output which can support higher split ratio. They can both be used in splice closure, optical distribution box, as well as installing in tray and rack-mount splitter box to form the tray splitters or rack-mount splitters. Their advantage is that we have no need to splice.
In tray splitter, input fibers and output fibers are preinstalled on a tray which easily fit within ODF, the Cross Connection Cabinet and other optical fiber distribution equipment. The splitters are secured within the trays and the trays are tamper-proof to prevent unwanted entry.
LGX splitter is design in a LGX module which is used for LGX chassis application. It is also terminated with adapters and according to different requirements, LGX modules can be inserted into the chassis. In addition, LGX splitter can also installed in rack mount chassis.
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Thus, so many pacakge type of PLC splitters have been launched to the market to satisfy all kinds of application requirements.

Choosing correct fiber optic cable and installation issues

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

When designing optical fiber network choosing correct fiber optic cable is critical for success of the project.
First, it is important to match ratings between equipment and cabling. In other, words choose 800 nm cable if using 800 nm equipment. It is especially important to check correct cables, in case you plan to use sophisticated DWDM muxes, some cheaper optical cables might have big attenuation at wavelength windows you will need.
The locale of the cable is also very important. Inside cable would perform poorly when installed outside, since it is lacking the protection features necessary, for outside use. Important to remember safety of personnel – un-terminated cable should not be touched with bare hands because of the danger of glass slivers, and should not be looked at directly – it could harm human vision。
In order to avoid any unnecessary danger for people, fiber-optic cable is typically terminated in some kind of enclosure.
One of the options for enclosure is patch panel. It gets multiple fiber-optic cables as input and allows interconnect them inside enclosure with short interconnect cables. Another option for optical enclosure is the fiber distribution panel.
It allows interconnections the same way as fiber patch panel. The difference is in connectors – they are more permanent. It is commonly used for splitting multi-fiber cables into individual cables.
There are several important factors affecting the performance and might decrease quality of the signal. First of them is attenuation or loss of data carrying  signal power. Attenuation is measured in dBs. More dBs represent higher signal loss (3dB equals 50% signal power loss). Cables with high attenuation specification are having shorter maximum transmittance distances. Things like dirty fiber end faces, imperfection of fiber, excessive bending, poor installation, and excessive stretching affect attenuation directly.
Another factor affecting performance is the acceptance angle – an angle at which laser could transmit signal through fiber successfully. Greater acceptance angle between two or more signals in multimode fiber result in negative performance of cable.
Characteristics like Numerical Aperture, Modal Dispersion and Bandwidth, and Chromatic Dispersion result from acceptance angle and affect overall performance. They are related to refractive specifications of the core, transmission delays and fiber bandwidth, and wavelength distribution respectively.
Specifically, for FTTx networks, choosing a cable is important, since you will usualy need transmit 3 wavelengths, lik

What You Need to Know When Ordering a Custom Fiber Optic Cable

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

So you need a fiber optic cable that may not be an “off the shelf” type at the website that you are used to buying cables from. Here are all the questions you need to answer in order to communicate exactly what specifications you need to get the cable you need, correctly and quickly. This should give you a road map to follow based on our own experiences asking and answering questions over time.
What fiber core do you need?
There are five types of fiber cores that you can choose from:
OM1  This is short for 62.5/125 micron, and is multimode with an orange color jacket.
OM2  This is short for 50/125 micron, and is multimode with an orange color jacket.
OM3  This is short for 50/125 micron, multimode and laser optimized with speeds up to 10GB. With a distinct aqua blue jacket, this is used in data centers.
OM4  A faster version of OM3, it can transmit signal up to 450 meters.
OS1   This is short for 9/125 micron, and is singlemode with a yellow jacket. It is made for long distance transmissions.
What connector do you need?
You can choose from the following commonly used ones, and they can be ordered in almost any combination, depending on your equipment.
LC- UPC
LC- APC
SC- UPC
SC- APC
ST- UPC
FC- UPC
FC- APC
MTRJ
MTP
E2000, MU and other special order connectors
What’s the jacket diameter?
Usually the choices are between 2mm and 3mm. 2.0 mm, also known as “thin” are favored by most Data centers since they are smaller, and more can fit in high density patch panels and racks. 3.0 mm jackets are also known as “thick,” and old style, and do not offer any more reliability, which is why they are being phased out by most manufacturers.
What color jacket do you need?
We at Cables.com offer many color choices, including Aqua, Blue, Orange, White, Green, Red, Black, Violet, Grey, Rose, Brown, and Yellow. All five jacket core types are available in multiple colors.
What is your fiber strand count?
Example – 2,4,6,8,12,24,up to 144 strands
What’s your desired fiber type?
A pretty specific question, but perhaps the most important one. Some options are:
Distribution Tight Buffer (900um) – used for Premise
Loose Tube (MicroCore Distribution – 250um) mainly used for long haul or splicing
MTP Ribbon (mainly used with MTP Connectors)
Armored- used for outdoor, rodent and weather resistant
Duplex Zipcord- mainly for indoor use. Most patch cables are made from this.
Aerial with Messenger (attached wire used for Support to hang outdoors – also has a Figure 8 design)
What length do you need?
Usually given in meters.
How will the fiber optic cable be used?
Will it be used Indoor or Outdoor? Most common types are Riser and Plenum. Plenum is used in crawl spaces and ceilings, and are often required by local building codes. If outdoor, you can also get gel filled for more protection against the elements.
What’s the breakout type?
Example – 2mm or 3mm furcation tubing
What’s the breakout length?
Most common are 18, 24 or 36 Inches on each side. It is a good idea to get Staggered connectors vs. Non-Staggered, since you want to be able to plug in connectors into different panels if need be that may be at different heights.
You can visit our custom cable builder to see for yourself how simple it is to find the multi strand fiber optic cable that you need. No matter the cable you need, Cables.com has the answers you need and resources to find the one that will work for you.