Join us for a webinar in April 6 and earn BICSI credits. We will discuss parallel optics, OM3, OM4 and bend insensitive fiber and how all of it relates to the fiber optic structured cabling system in the modern data center.

You will learn:

• Why parallel optics is being used for 40/100G Ethernet transmission in the data center over multimode fiber
• How parallel optics works
• What OM3 and OM4 fiber means and how to determine which you should use
• What bend insensitive fiber is and its value in the data center structured cabling system

Webinar attendees can earn 1 Continuing Education Credit (CEC) for BICSIs RCDD, Installer, Technician or Certified Trainer designations.  Register today!

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.