I just returned from the 2012 BICSI Winter Conference & Exhibition. It was great to get together with other colleagues and individuals that all have one thing in common: we respect layer one! One of the great benefits of this conference is the educational opportunities, and BICSI certainly delivered this year.

The most common theme that I heard throughout the conference was that 40/100G Ethernet isn’t just on the horizon, it’s already here. This will have profound effects on data center structured cabling – which wasn’t a surprise to me, we’ve been preparing for this for years!

One of the choices data centers must consider when migrating to 40/100G Ethernet is whether to use fiber or copper cabling. Based on what I’ve seen, fiber will be the primary cabling type. The IEEE 802.3ba standard for 40/100G Ethernet states a maximum distance of 7M to run 40/100G, and that will be using “active” cables. (An active cable is a cable with a transceiver hard-wired to it.) This limitation rules out copper as a primary medium of transport.

Fiber optic cabling does offer the choice between multi-mode and single-mode cabling. There are a few key factors to weigh here: distance, transmission type and total link cost. Single-mode fiber will run longer distances and will still utilize a serial transmission. Multi-mode fiber will require parallel transmission, which is a dramatic change for many, and can only run limited channel lengths.

Cost is, of course, key factor here – which makes multi-mode fiber an attractive option. Single-mode fiber is cheaper, but the transceivers are very expensive. Overall, a multi-mode link is projected to be about half the cost of a single-mode. This cost delta is based largely on the expensive lasers required for single-mode transmission. The link distances for multi-mode fiber running 40/100G Ethernet is 100M using OM3 fiber, and 150M using OM4. Since roughly 90% of data center link distances are within the multi-mode distance limitation, it appears to be a no-brainer.

Because of this, it is evident that multi-mode fiber will be the predominant cabling of choice for these higher network speeds. Single-mode will be used only when necessary, and copper could potentially be utilized in specialized areas where short link distances occur. Another consideration for copper: copper transceivers will utilize more power.

Choosing your cabling infrastructure is a critical decision for any data center team, but there is a wealth of information out there (and this site!), and I would suggest doing a little research until you feel comfortable with your decision. We also have a dedicated team to help answer any further questions you may have – give us a call and 800.913.9465 to find out more.

Since the ratification of IEEE 802.3ba, the transition to 40/100G Ethernet speeds is no longer a question of if, but when. We’re going to go over the five things you need to know in order to prepare for 40/100G speeds in your data center.

In this webinar, you will learn how to best prepare for 40/100G speeds, including answering the following questions:

• What is the connector of choice when it comes to 40/100G transmission media?
• What is the total link distance and what is the loss budget?
• What is “skew,” and do I need to worry about it?
• What bandwidth glass should I be using?
• What about optical trunk light path? Do parallel optics need a different light path than that of duplex transmissions?

Presented by:
Josh Taylor, Senior Product Manager, CABLExpress
Kent Goldsmith, Engineering Manager, CABLExpress

With the advent of the IEEE 802.3ba standard for 40/100G Ethernet, it is important for anyone in the optical structured cabling field within the data center to understand what parallel optics is, how it works, why it will be used and potential obstacles to overcome.   In a recent CABLE Talk Josh describes the Parallel optics in greater detail.

How it works: It works by sending a signal from the transceiver over multiple fibers instead of single fibers (using RX and TX respectively).

Why it will be used: Current optical technology does not allow from transmission much over 10G speeds using LOMMF (Laser optimized multi mode fiber).  It can be done with single mode fiber however the costs will be much higher.  Parallel optics offers a compromise of cost and use of potential existing data center infrastructure cabling.

Potential obstacles:

Use of the MTP®, in the data center this connector with either 12 or 24 fibers will need to be utilized.

Insertion loss, as data rates increase insertion loss budgets decrease.  Be mindful of your loss budget and ensure any cabling investments are researched with loss budget as critical criteria.

In this edition of CABLE Talk JT dives into parallel optics. With the recent ratification of the IEEE 802.3ba standard for 40/100 G Ethernet, parallel optics will be utilized for short reach data center applications.

Typically used in data center structured cabling environments running high speeds of 10G or even 40 or 100 Gigabit Ethernet, SAN (Storage Area Networking), Fiber Channel, FCOE (Fiber Channel Over Ethernet) with such manufacturers as Cisco, Brocade, EMC and others. Typical applications could be virtualization or internal cloud core data center applications.  MTP® is a registered trademark of US CONEC.