CLEANING: KEEP YOUR FIBER OPTIC NETWORK AT PEAK PERFORMANCE

by Fiber-MART.COM

Clean fiber optic components are vital for a quality connection between your pieces of network equipment. As network providers are building up to deploy 40G and 100G systems, techs must pay close attention to their fiber optic performance, ensuring data is transmitting quickly and without failure.

 

This is the third in a Telect blog series, entitled The A-B-Cs of Cable Management. Fiber Product Manager Aaron Monheim tackles the subject of fiber optic cleaning.

 

Contaminated fiber connectors often lead to network failures and limited insertion loss. If a connector is dirty, even a contaminant that is only 1µ can degrade the signal by 1%, resulting in 0.05dB of insertion loss.

 

A larger 9µ speck of dust can block the signal completely, even though it is not possible to see with the naked eye.

 

Dust is not the only culprit for attenuation loss on the endface of a fiber connector. Oils from our hands, airborne contaminants and residue left by water or other solvents are all common contaminants on connectors.

 

They’re more difficult to remove from the endface, but they also can cause damage to networking equipment.

 

It’s all easily prevented, though, with a little house cleaning:

 

HOW TO CLEAN FIBER OPTIC CONNECTIONS

 

The goal is always to eliminate the dust or contaminants and get that fiber-optic connection clean for optimal data transmission.

 

Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:

 

Using a scope to inspect each fiber connector

If the connector is dirty, do a one-click clean and re-inspect with the scope

If the connector is still not passing, remove the connector from the module and attempt a second dry clean with a cletop cleaner

If the connector still does not pass, do a wet clean with 99.9% isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free KIM wipe

These steps should get your fiber optic connections clean. If the endface is still failing after two dry cleans and one wet clean, the connector may need to be re-polished.

 

Remember that re-inspection is an important step before you try to plug the fiber into the connector.

 

After all, your end users’ download speeds are at stake!

 

The way to Choose a Suitable 48-Port PoE Switch?

by Fiber-MART.COM

With the development of smart home and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), there is a growing adoption of PoE devices like IP cameras, VoIP phone, wireless access points (WAP), IoT devices, etc. Therefore, network switches are required to be able to support numbers of PoE installations, which brings 48-port PoE switch into the market. Then how to choose a suitable 48-port gigabit PoE switch for PoE applications? What are the most considered factors to buy a PoE switch? In this article, these questions will be answered in details.

 

What to Consider When Choosing a 48-Port PoE Switch?

As we know, PoE switch, offering both data and power for PoE-enabled devices, is an important component for connection with PoE. To meet network deployment requirements, 48-port PoE switch now is a popular option for network builders. Then from users front, what elements do users consider? For more basic details about PoE switches, you can read this article: Extend Your Network with PoE Switch

 

Power Budget

Power budget is an essential factor that most users will consider when buying a PoE switch. According to the explanation on Wikipedia, the PoE standard (IEEE802.3af) provides up to 15.4W of DC power on each port theoretically, while the PoE+ standard (IEEE802.3at) can offer up to 30W per port, but only 25.5W could transmit to network devices in real time. However, in real time, not every port requires the 30W. Most are still under the 15W range. Therefore, maximum power of each port and how many ports of the switch supporting PoE should be taken into consideration to ensure the device can get enough power.

 

Acoustic Noise

Noise caused by the PoE switch fan is a troubling problem for many users. Though there is fanless PoE switch like 8-port PoE switches, the capacity of them cannot satisfy users’ demand. Since many of them want to use the high density 48-port PoE switch in office or even at home, while the noise from the PoE switch is so disturbing. Therefore, the degree of noise caused by the PoE switch is also a parameter that many users care about.

 

Cost

48-port PoE switch price is always a hot topic that users care about. For there are various sellers online providing diverse brands of PoE switches, the price of the 48-port switch is also changeable. For example, the Cisco 48-port PoE switch price is $2666, and the HP PoE gigabit switch with 48 ports (J9853A) is $4789. While the price of fiber-mart.COM 48-port PoE gigabit switch is $689. These different prices allow users have more choices to select the suitable one for their networks.

 

Manufacturer or Warranty

Similar to the cost, there are numbers of manufacturers who can produce PoE switch. And they have many small agencies that selling their switches. Though the switch price may low, the warranty of the switches cannot be ensured. Nearly all brand manufacturers have claimed that their lifetime support is restricted to authorized sellers. Therefore, when choosing a needed 48-port PoE switch, make sure that the seller is reliable.

 

Recommendations for Popular 48-Port PoE Switches in the Market

To further illustrate all the factors mentioned above on choosing a suitable 48-port PoE switch, here is a simple comparison between popular 48-port PoE switches in the market.

 

From the chart, we can see that the capacity and price of these 48-port PoE switches vary from vendor to vendor. In comparison, fiber-mart.COM S1600-48T4S PoE switch offers four SFP+ ports for high-capacity uplinks, which allows users connect to a high-performance storage server directly or deploy a long-distance uplink to another switch. And its price is its another great advantage among these PoE switches. Cisco and HP 48-port PoE switch requires users invest relatively high cost, but it’s a good choice if users have strict requirements for acoustic noise.

 

48-port PoE switch with SFP+ port enables network designers to achieve high-performance and long distance network deployments. Power consumption, acoustic noise and manufacturers are what the users should consider when choosing a PoE switches. After all, nobody can make bricks without straw. Choosing a reliable manufacturer like fiber-mart.COM who can provide networking solutions for data centers and enterprise networks is also important.

What do Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6a have in common?

They each utilize 4 twisted pairs in a common jacket. They use the same style RJ-45 jacks and plugs. And, they are each limited to a cable length of 100 meters including the length of the patch cables on either end of the link. The parts are interchangeable, so you can use a Cat5e patch cable with Cat6 house cabling. Your system will just perform at the level of the lowest link, in this case the Cat5e patch cable.

 

So what’s the difference?

 

Better transmission performance. With each upgrade in cable, there is less signal loss, less cross talk, and more bandwidth. And of course, more cost. So the important question is: What exactly am I getting for my money? Rather than talk about near-end-cross-talk requirements or SNR ratios, let’s talk about what each cable delivers in terms of Ethernet performance.

 

Cat5e:   Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters   10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 45 meters

 

Cat6:    Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters   10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 55 meters

 

Cat6a:   Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters

 

All three support gigabit, which is enough for most networks. 10 Gigabit, when it is deployed, is typically utilized for aggregation links between switches and not for workstations. Although it is unlikely an enterprise will require 10 gigabit to the workstations, certainly it is reasonable to design a new system with future needs in mind. In this case, the 10 gigabit capacities of Cat5e and Cat6 are problematic. Since data closets are located based on an assumption that workstation lines can be up to 100 meters, the shorter length limitation for Cat5e and Cat6 make them undesirable. That leaves Cat6a as the cabling of choice for future proofing.

A Quick Guide To Fiber Optic Power Meter

When you install and terminate fiber optic cables, you always have to test them. A test should be conducted for each fiber optic cable plant for three main areas: continuity, loss, and power. And optical power meters are part of the toolbox essentials to do this. There are general-purpose power meters, semi-automated ones, as well as power meters optimized for certain types of networks, such as FTTx or LAN/WAN architectures. It’s all a matter of choosing the right gear for the need.

Here is a quick guide to fiber optic power meters and how they work.

 

Optical power meters are commonly used to measure absolute light power in dBm. For dBm measurement of light transmission power, proper calibration is essential. A fiber optic power meter is also used with an optical light source for measuring loss or relative power level in dB. To calculate the power loss, optic power meter is first connected directly to an optical transmission device through a fiber optic pigtail, and the signal power is measured. Then the measurements are taken at the remote end of the fiber cable.

 

Fiber optic power meter detects the average power of a continuous beam of light in an optical fiber network, tests the signal power of laser or light emitting diode (LED) sources. Light dispersion can occur at many points in a network due to faults or misalignments; the power meter analyzes the high-powered beams of long-distance single-mode fibers and the low-power multibeams of short-distance multimode fibers.

 

Important specifications for fiber optic power meters include wavelength range, optical power range, power resolution, and power accuracy. Some devices are rack-mounted or hand held. Others are designed for use atop a bench or desktop. Power meters that interface to computers are also available.

 

The fiber optic power meter is a special light meter that measures how much light is coming out of the end of the fiber optic cable. The power meter needs to be able to measure the light at the proper wavelength and over the appropriate power range. Most power meters used in datacom networks are designed to work at 850nm and 1300nn. Power levels are modest, in the range of –15 to –35dBm for multimode links, 0 to –40dBm for single mode links. Power meters generally can be adapted to a variety of connector styles such as SC, ST, FC, SMA, LC, MU, etc.

 

Generally, multimode fiber is tested with LEDs at both 850nm and 1300nm and single mode fiber is tested with lasers at 1310nm and 1550nm. The test source will typically be a LED for multimode fiber unless the fiber is being used for Gigabit Ethernet or other high-speed networks that use laser sources. LEDs can be used to test single mode fibers less than 5000 meters long, while a laser should be used for long single mode fibers.

 

Most fiber optic power meters are calibrated in linear units such as milliwatts or microwatts. They may also provide measurements in decibels referenced to one milliwatt or microwatt of optical power. Typically, fiber optic power meters include a removable adaptor for connections to other devices. By measuring average time instead of peak power, power meters remain sensitive to the duty cycle of digital pulse input streams.

 

Use fiber optic power meter and other useful fiber optic tool kits to ensure that your fiber optic system will operate smoothly.

A FASCINATING USE OF FIBER OPTICS

Fiber optics are used in a variety of ways to improve people’s lives. One such way is the recent development of a handheld fiber optic probe that’s used to diagnose cancer. Utilizing an ultrafast laser, this probe can perform multiple nonlinear imaging techniques without the need for tissue staining. In other words, it’s a cleaner, easier, more efficient way to check people’s tissues to reveal cancer and/or other diseases.

 

If this sounds like something from Star Trek, where a probe was used to scan a person for internal problems, that’s pretty much where technology is headed, with a big nod to those who work with fiber optics to “make it so.”

 

Instead of taking a bit of tissue from a person (with a biopsy) and then sending that tissue to a pathologist who stains it to look for cancer cells under a microscope, fiber optics makes it possible to literally diagnose cancer “on the spot.” This saves time, obviously. It also helps surgeons figure out cancerous versus healthy tissue during surgery.

 

The probe that checks for cancer is quite small– picture a ballpoint pen! Interestingly, the diameter of the handheld device, which is currently 8 millimeters in diameter, could probably be made even smaller in the future.

 

Essentially, the new probe functions like a mini microscope. It uses near-infrared lasers to allow doctors to get a true view of what’s going on inside people’s tissues. Because of fiber optics, the probe’s size is quite small compared to previous generations of devices meant to do similar things. Fiber allows for thousands of light guiding elements making an endoscopic approach easy.

 

Currently, this new probe is set to be tested on animals. Eventually it will be tested on patients in a clinical setting.

 

If you ever watched Star Trek and marveled at the idea of a doctor using some sort of handheld device to literally look underneath the skin and discover what’s going on, it looks like Star Trek was onto something decades before it actually came true in reality.

FAST FACTS ABOUT UNDERSEA FIBER OPTICS

It may seem like technology today is especially reliant on wireless data transmission – more and more locations offer free Wi-Fi to patrons and guests, and unlike the days of dial-up, your phone and computer don’t need to be physically connected to something in order to transmit data. Well, while it is true that we’re a world obsessed with wireless content, there’s simply no way the internet could function without the network of ocean-crossing cables that were laid many years ago to connect the continents.

 

PHYSICAL CABLE LINKS

Fiber optic cables on the ocean floor carry 99 percent of all transoceanic digital communication, which includes phone calls, websites and emails. Without these cables, you would have a hard time FaceTiming with your colleagues in London or emailing family while vacationing in Ireland. Relying on satellites to transmit data Fast Facts About Undersea Fiber Opticswould make communication possible, but it would be incredibly slow compared to the speed that the fiber optic cables afford. In Antarctica – the only continent without a physical cable link to the rest of the world – researchers have a hard time transmitting their work because satellite bandwidth is somewhat unreliable and data transmission is at a premium.

 

REINVENTION OF AN OLD IDEA

While fiber optic cabling is a new technology, using cables isn’t a new idea. In the 1850s, a telegram sent from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan via the world’s first transatlantic cable was successfully transmitted in about 17 hours. While the man in charge of the cable – Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse – fried it by trying to make it faster, the start of transoceanic communication can trace back more than a century and a half.

 

MODERN CABLE INSTALLATION

Installation of modern cables is slow, expensive work, with cables that are hundreds of thousands of miles long and placed as deep in the ocean as Everest is tall. They can be as thick as a soda can, or as slim as a marker. Boats called cable-layers are in charge of Fast Facts About Undersea Fiber Opticslaying the cables safely, but it’s not as simple as dropping a line into the sea. Cable-layers must ensure that the cables do not interfere ecologically with the ocean, which means cables have to be put down across flat, bare ocean floor, and can’t transverse coral reefs or sunken ships. The installation of one cable across one ocean can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

FIBER OPTIC CABLE VULNERABILITY

Making things even more expensive, the cables are vulnerable. The U.S. government constantly monitors the location of key cables to make sure that other countries aren’t messing with them. Last year, the Russians got a little too close for comfort to cables that help run the economy, government and citizens’ lives in the West. Natural disasters, boat anchors and fishing vessels could also be harmful to the cables. Plus, as you may have heard, sharks have acquired a taste for internet cats and hilarious memes.

 

The cables that currently cross the oceans are built to last for the next 25 years. As of 2014, there were 285 cables on the ocean floor, 22 of which had not moved to active use. These “dark cables” are lying in wait to be “lit” to help carry data and information from one continent to another. While the amount of data consumption is undoubtedly going to increase in the coming years, these cables are already up to the challenge.

COMMON USES FOR FIBER OPTIC CABLES

Fiber optic cables have been around for years now, but over the last decade or two, companies have come up with all sorts of ways to put them to good use. Fiber optic cables contain a few thousand optical fibers inside of them, and they are used to transmit data by utilizing light. They have changed the way that information is sent all over the world, and in the coming years, they are going to be used even more than they already are today. Let’s take a look at some of the most common uses for fibers optic cables.

 

Internet

 

Because fiber optic cables are able to take incredibly large amounts of data and move them quickly, they are primarily used by those who use the internet. Data used to be moved around through the use of copper wires, but those wires weren’t equipped to move the data as quickly as fiber optic cables can do it. So there are more and more places that are turning to fiber optic cables for their internet needs.

 

Telephone

 

People from all over the globe have always been able to keep in touch by using the telephone, but they’ve never been able to do it as easily as they can do it today through the use of fiber optic cables. You can connect with anyone in the world faster when you rely on fiber optic cables, and you can have an entire conversation with someone without experiencing any lag or disruptions.

 

Automobiles

 

While most people think that fiber optic cables are only used for communications, there are lots of other practical uses for it as well. Those in the automotive industry rely on fiber optic cables when installing lighting and safety features in many of today’s cars. Fiber optics can provide excellent lighting without taking up much space, and they can also transmit information within the various systems located in vehicles quickly and effortlessly. It’s why so many car companies are starting to find interesting new ways to use fiber optic cables.

 

As time goes on, fiber optic cables are going to become more and more a part of all of our lives. There are so many ways to use fiber optic cables, and companies are going to start using them for different tasks than they do now. Connected Fiber has more than two decades worth of experience with fiber optic cables and recognizes just how valuable they can be. We can help you with all of your fiber optic needs and tell you more about the role they play in the world. 

Optical divider and connector market strong demand

In many related policies, driven by large-scale light in to the copper retreat has unfolded, with FTTx substantive, ODN products becoming an important part of FTTx system, may also be the expansion opportunity.

In line with the statistics, the proportion of ODN access equipment investment taken into account 50% ~ 60% of FTTx equipment investment.Could be predicted the years in the future our country ODN access device how big the marketplace will keep growth trend in excess of 20%, to 2012, how large the marketplace is predicted to attain 14.55 billion yuan.ODN access products are usually made from optical divider, optical connector and also the equipments install these elements (housing, terminal box,etc.).ODN core technology is mainly manifested within the optical divider, optical connector, passive optical components products.

Bypass the marketplace popular

PLC (planar optical waveguide technology) optical divider is primarily utilized in FTTH user access network, global curiosity about PLC optical divider in ’09 about3300 wantong, annual rate of development of 32%.Global markets presents different pattern in various area, Japan, Columbia following a curiosity about high-speeddevelopment for quite a while, has become approaching the gentle, demand is pretty stable, makes up about about 50 % from the share of the market;The outcome from theeconomic crisis in the usa, influenced by a specific momentum;And developing countries for example China, India, Brazil’s FTTx a fast-growing construction phase, thusend up being the main growth reason behind the marketplace.

Using the development of our country FTTx, planar optical waveguide technologies have get to be the growth and development of optical communication industry.PLC marketa hot, many are very bullish on passive optical device manufacturers, will be ready to mount the PLC program.Right now, the PLC in the leading manufacturers of opticalcommunication technology, rich and rich science, and science, etc.

PLC products around the massive in China telecom and China unicom bidding, driven by domestic PLC market, an order income growth is powerful.Through the 12th five-yearplan, operators will accelerate the FTTx network deployment, that will effectively promote the domestic market requirement for passive components, PLC products sincethe core device of FTTx, will get a large amount of applications, inside the global share of the market is predicted to assist enhance.

PLC could be the core from the optical divider chip, the chip is essential to produce and manufacture.Recently, we’ve already had some light components enterprisessuccessfully on PLC chip encapsulation, most foreign enterprises also transfer chips to the country to encapsulate, these conditions to build up PLC optical dividerindustry has built favorable conditions.

The connector has huge potential

Requirement of global optical connector in 2008 to 2008, increased by 11% in the year earlier, last year to a single.04 billion.The downstream applications for instance communication, optical network market demand growth, the influence of is anticipated to achieve 1.63 billion by 2012.

Global optical connector within the consumer market, the American companies are the largest.The oldest along with the future development potential may be the Asia Pacific markets.While using advancement of optical fiber cable technology increase the risk for optical fiber gets closer and nearer to the final outcome user, the shorter links, including board interconnection relating to the needs in the growing, thus promoted greatly rise in the quantity of the connector.

This season countries for the policy within the development and integration of optical communication industry will heighten the size the domestic market of optical fiber connector, promote the introduction of domestic optical fiber connector industry.Domestic industry restructuring and three g licensing as well as other factors to market regarding the optical communication network, the resulting including light to the copper back, “FTTx” and so on the most recent market demand, is a big market possibility of optical fiber connector.

Based on China electronics industry association information center, 2009, 280 million optical fiber connector in the domestic market demand, domestic optical fiber connector from 2010 to 2015 how large industry demand will probably be around 12.6% growth, demand will reach 2012, 410 million.As fiber optic broadband network large-scale construction start, therefore, three major telecom operators entry to the building construction is anticipated being orderly development of optical network, optical fiber connector market scale continuously grow.

MU to MU Duplex 9/125 Single-mode Fiber Patch Cable 15 meters

MU-MU Duplex 9/125 Single-mode Fiber Patch Cable 15 meters

Fiber Patch Cord (Fiber Patch Cable or Fiber jumper) is an fiber cable that has fiber connectors installed on one or both ends. General use of these cable assemblies includes the interconnection of fiber cable systems and optics-to-electronic equipment. If the fiber connectors are attached to only one end of a cable, it is known as a fiber pigtail, if the fiber connectors are attached to both ends. it is known as a fiber jumper or fiber patch cord. There are various kinds of Fiber cable material for different environment and applications, PVC, Riser, Plenum, OFNR, OFNP, LSZH, 10 Gig Aqua. Typical Fiber cable diameter can be 0.25mm, 0.9mm, 2.0mm, 3.0mm. 

The Definition of ‘mode’ as in multimode refers to the transmitting mode of the fiber optic light in the fiber optic cable core. 

Singlemode fiber optic patch cables send one light signal at a time, and can be used for longer runs than multimode because they have more resistance to attenuation. 

The core of a single mode fiber optic cable is 9/125μ (micron). 

Single mode fiber optic patch cables can support gigabit ethernet applications for up to 10 kilometers.

Key Features a variety of custom Simplex, Duplex and Mini Zip, single mode (SM) and multi mode (MM) Fiber Patch Cords and Fiber pigtail assemblies with various types of Fiber Connectors including ST, FC, SC, LC, MU, MTRJ, E2000 …etc.,. that could be built to your specification. Our Fiber Patch Cord and Fiber Pigtail range offers choices of any length, connector types and either PVC or LSZH sheath, All of our cable assemblies are composed of our top quality Ceramic Ferrules and Fiber Connectors housings ensuring a stable performance at a high quality level.

MU-MU ConnectorsSingle-mode duplex fiber optic cable Complete with orange OFNR rated riser/jacket All of our fiber optic patch cables feature the high degree connectors 100% optically tested to ensure high performance

Specifications

Connectors: MU to MU Micron: 9/125um Insertion Loss: Single-mode UPC <0.2dB Return Loss: Single-mode UPC >50 dB Operating Temperature: -40℃ to 80℃ Fiber Patch cord assemblies consist of optical fiber terminated with various types of Fiber Connectors, such as the ST, FC, SC, LC, MU, MTRJ, E2000 Connector types. Our polishing process can ensure certain optical properties with a low insertion loss and return loss. We supply high quality fiber optic pigtails, patch cords and pre-assembled installation cable (indoor / outdoor / breakout cable) for singlemode and multimode applications (SM and MM). This find optical connectors, and fiber / cable from the leading manufacturers of their application. The offer includes a wide variety of connector types, cable types and cable lengths Length: 15 meter Color: Yellow

The CWDM 2.5G SFP optical module saves the shortage of fiber resource

The CWDM 2.5G SFP gigabit optical module products are developed by the CWDM technology. The CWDM technology separates the wavelength into 20nm per interval.

 

The CWDM 2.5G SFP gigabit optical module is able to improve the communication capacity, extend the broadband and solve the shortage of fiber resource efficiently in the existing network of the metropolitan area network.

The CWDM 2.5G SFP gigabit optical module provides a kind of easy, flexible and low cost solution to the metropolitan area network.

 

We also supply the OC48 SFP modules and WDM OC48 SFP modules. The price is reasonable and the quality is excellent. They are compatible with the famous brands’ devices, such as Cisco switches, H3C switches and so on.

What's the best way to terminate fiber optic cable?

What's the best way to terminate fiber optic cable? That depends on the application, cost considerations and your own personal preferences. The following connector comparisons can make the decision easier.

Epoxy & Polish

Epoxy & polish style connectors were the original fiber optic connectors. They still represent the largest segment of connectors, in both quantity used and variety available. Practically every style of connector is available including ST, SC, FC, LC, D4, SMA, MU, and MTRJ. Advantages include:

• Very robust. This connector style is based on tried and true technology, and can withstand the greatest environmental and mechanical stress when compared to the other connector technologies.

• This style of connector accepts the widest assortment of cable jacket diameters. Most connectors of this group have versions to fit onto 900um buffered fiber, and up to 3.0mm jacketed fiber.

• Versions are. available that hold from 1 to 24 fibers in a single connector.

Installation Time: There is an initial setup time for the field technician who must prepare a workstation with polishing equipment and an epoxy-curing oven. The termination time for one connector is about 25 minutes due to the time needed to heat cure the epoxy. Average time per connector in a large batch can be as low as 5 or 6 minutes. Faster curing epoxies such as anaerobic epoxy can reduce the installation time, but fast cure epoxies are not suitable for all connectors.

Skill Level: These connectors, while not difficult to install, do require the most supervised skills training, especially for polishing. They are best suited for the high-volume installer or assembly house with a trained and stable work force.

Costs: Least expensive connectors to purchase, in many cases being 30 to 50 percent cheaper than other termination style connectors. However, factor in the cost of epoxy curing and ferrule polishing equipment, and their associated consumables.

Pre-Loaded Epoxy or No-Epoxy & Polish

There are two main categories of no-epoxy & polish connectors. The first are connectors that are pre-loaded with a measured amount of epoxy. These connectors reduce the skill level needed to install a connector but they don't significantly reduce the time or equipment need-ed. The second category of connectors uses no epoxy at all. Usually they use an internal crimp mechanism to stabilize the fiber. These connectors reduce both the skill level needed and installation time. ST, SC, and FC connector styles are available. Advantages include:

• Epoxy injection is not required.
• No scraped connectors due to epoxy over-fill.
• Reduced equipment requirements for some versions.

Installation Time: Both versions have short setup time, with pre-loaded epoxy connectors having a slightly longer setup. Due to curing time, the pre-loaded epoxy connectors require the same amount of installation time as standard connectors, 25 minutes for 1 connector, 5-6 minutes average for a batch. Connectors that use the internal crimp method install in 2 minutes or less.

Skill Level: Skill requirements are reduced because the crimp mechanism is easier to master than using epoxy. They provide maximum flexibility with one technology and a balance between skill and cost.

Costs: Moderately more expensive to purchase than a standard connector. Equipment cost is equal to or less than that of standard con¬nectors. Consumable cost is reduced to polish film and cleaning sup-plies. Cost benefits derive from reduced training requirements and fast installation time.

No-Epoxy & No-Polish

Easiest and fastest connectors to install; well suited for contractors who cannot cost-justify the training and supervision required for standard connectors. Good solution for fast field restorations. ST, SC, FC, LC, and MTRJ connector styles are available. Advantages include:
• No setup time required.
• Lowest installation time per connector.
• Limited training required.
• Little or no consumables costs.

Installation Time: Almost zero. Its less than 1 minute regardless of number of connectors.

Skill level: Requires minimal training, making this type of connector ideal for installation companies with a high turnover rate of installers and/or that do limited amounts of optical-fiber terminations.

Costs: Generally the most expensive style connector to purchase, since some of the labor (polishing) is done in the factory. Also, one or two fairly expensive installation tools may be required. However, it may still be less expensive on a cost-per-installed-connector basis due to lower labor cost.

The Ports On CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX

It is quite common to use CWDM or DWDM to increase the existing fiber optic network without adding any fibers. Using WDM MUX/DEMUX is necessary to build a CWDM or DWDM network. Now there are different ports installed on the CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUXs to add more beneficial to the fiber optic network. This post will offer details about the ports on CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX.

 

DWDM MUX/DEMUX Port

The basic function of the CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX is combining data rate of different wavelengths over the same fiber cable to increase the network capacity. Thus, channel ports supporting different wavelengths and Line port used to connect the WDM MUX/DEMUX are the must-have ports for these devices.

CWDM uses 18 wavelengths ranging from 1270nm to 1610nm with a channel space of 20nm. Channel port count on CWDM MUX/DEMUX is usually ranging from 2 to 18. The following picture shows a full-channel CWDM MUX/DEMUX with all the 18 CWDM wavelengths: 1270nm, 1290nm, 1310nm, 1330nm, 1350nm, 1370nm, 1390nm, 1410nm, 1430nm, 1450nm, 1470nm, 1490nm, 1510nm, 1530nm, 1550nm, 1570nm, 1590nm, 1610nm.

18CH CWDM MUX/DEMUX

 

DWDM uses the wavelength ranging from 1470nm to 1625nm usually with channel space of 0.8nm (100GHz) or 0.4nm (50GHz). DWDM MUX/DEMUX can support much more wavelengths that of CWDM MUX/DEMUX. The channel port of a DWDM MUX/DEMUX is usually ranging from 4 to 96.

Line Port

 

There are two types of line port available for CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX. One is dual fiber line port, and the other is single fiber line port. The selection of the line port depends on applications. The WDM MUX/DEMUX with a single fiber line port is very different from the WDM MUX/DEMUX with a dual fiber line port on the using of wavelengths.

 

Dual-fiber MUX/DEMUX uses the same wavelength for dual-way transmission, which means the TX port and RX port of every duplex channel port supporting the same wavelength. The WDM MUX/DEMUXs with dual fiber line ports installed on the two ends of the network could be the same.

 

signle-fiber DWDM MUX/DEMUX

 

For single-fiber WDM MUX/DEMUX, all the wavelengths just flow in one direction. And the TX port and RX port of every duplex channel port supporting two different wavelengths. The above picture shows the front panel of an 8-channel DWDM MUX/DEMUX with single-fiber line port. As it is clearly marked the TX port and RX port use different wavelengths. If you choose a single-fiber WDM MUX/DEMUX on one side of the network, there should be a single-fiber WDM MUX/DEMUX which supports the same wavelengths but has the reverse order on the TX port and RX port of every duplex channel port. Please note, the line port of some  single-fiber CWDM MUX/DEMUXs is made into a duplex port, but one one port is function. Here takes the example of fiber-mart.COM FMU CWDM MUX/DEMUX as an example, as shown in the following picture, the single-fiber CWDM MUX/DEMUX has a duplex port, but one of the port marked as “N/A” is not in use.

 

single-fiber CWDM line-port

 

The Functioning Ports on CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX

Except the above mentioned must-have channel ports and line port, WDM MUX/DEMUX can also be added with other ports which bring more profits to the existing WDM network. The following will introduce these special ports that are often added on CWDM and DWDM MUX/DEMUX.

Expansion Port

 

Expansion port added on WDM MUX/DEMUX is really useful. If you installed a CWDM network which just using several of the CWDM wavelengths, you can use this expansion port to increase the network capacity by connecting the expansion port with the line port of another CWDM MUX/DEMUX supporting different wavelengths. Then the network of this CWDM network can be increased easily. Both CWDM MUX/DEMUX and DWDM MUX/DEMUX support this expansion port. Kindly click the following picture for details of how to use expansion port.

WDM Expansion Solution

 

1310nm Port and 1550nm Port

The 1310nm and 1550nm are actually WDM wavelengths. How could these two wavelengths become special? It can be recognized that many fiber optic signals for are transmitted over 1310nm and 1550nm. Many fiber optic transceivers support long distances use these two wavelengths. However, the standard channel port on WDM MUX/DEMUX can only be connected to color coded fiber optic transceiver like CWDM SFP/SFP+ and DWDM SFP/SFP+. With these special designed 1310nm port and 1550nm port, the signal running through ordinary fiber optic transceivers can be combined together with other CWDM wavelengths.

 

Please note that DWDM MUX/DEMUX can only add special 1310nm port. For CWDM MUX/DEMUX, not all the wavelengths can be added, if you add special 1310nm or 1550nm port on the device. There is a simple rule for how to add the special ports and other standard channel ports on CWDM MUX/DEMUX. If you want to add 1310nm or 1550nm ports on your CWDM MUX/DEMUX, wavelengths which are 0-40nm higher or lower than 1310nm or 1550nm cannot be added to the MUX. The following table shows the specific details.

 

Monitor Port

Many technicians will add a monitor port on CWDM or DWDM MUX/DEMUX for better network monitoring and management. If you choose a single-fiber WDM MUX/DEMUX, the monitor port should be a simplex fiber optic port. For dual-fiber WDM MUX/DEMUX, you can add a duplex monitor port for the whole network monitoring, or just add a simplex port for MUX or DEMUX monitoring.

MUX/DEMUX monitor port

 

fiber-mart.COM WDM CWDM and DWDM Solution

The above mentioned ports are the most commonly used in WDM MUX/DEMUX. All these ports can be customized in fiber-mart.COM where affordable complete solutions for CWDM, DWDM and DWDM over CWDM network are available. Kindly contact sales@fiber-mart.com for more details if you are interested.

What Is 25 Gigabit Ethernet & Why Is It in Demand?

What Is 25 Gigabit Ethernet & Why Is It in Demand?

Though the migration from 10 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet) to 40/100 GbE is widely recognized as the Ethernet speed upgrade path and greatly satisfies the increasing demands for higher bandwidth and speed, people still keep pursuing a better solution to replace the existing “10GbE-40GbE-100GbE” path. New deployments, such as 10GbE—25GbE—100GbE or 10GbE—25GbE—50GbE—100GbE are underway which are announced to better satisfy the data center and cloud network. Thus, what is 25 GbE and why is it in demand?

What Is 25 GbE?

25GbE, namely 25 Gigabit Ethernet, is a proposed standard for Ethernet connectivity in a datacenter environment. It is driven by an industry consortium, also called 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium. Now, the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium includes many famous companies like Microsoft, Google, Broadcom, Mellanox, Arista, and Brocade etc. that make contributions to pushing for 25 GbE. Their specification recommends a single-lane 25 GbE and dual-lane 50 GbE link protocols. 25 GbE is in the process of becoming a standard and has passed the first hurdle in the IEEE standards body with a successful Call for Interest (CFI) in July, 2014. The industry expects that 25GbE hardware will be available as early as 2015 with the standard finalized by 2016.

Why Is 25 GbE in Demand?

As we know, in the high-density data center, using multiple 10 GbE would require twice as many Ethernet switches with their associated space, power, and cooling costs. Deploying 25GbE networks enables organizations to significantly decrease capital and operating expenses by reducing the required number of switches and cables to solve these issues, compared to 10GbE and 40GbE (4×10 GbE) technology. Additionally, fewer network components also reduce ongoing management and maintenance costs.

For instance, if we use the 10GbE—40GbE—100GbE path, we will have 10 GbE single, 40 GbE quads and 100 GbE ten lanes in production. But when we turn to 25 GbE, we just need 25 GbE single, 50 GbE dual and 100 GbE quads in production. Obviously, 25GbE enables us to have 2.5X the performance of 10Gb Ethernet, making it a cost-effective upgrade to the 10GbE infrastructure. While compared to 40GbE, which is actually four 10GbE lanes, 25GbE is delivered across a single lane which provides greater switch port density and network scalability. Moreover, using multiple 25GbE lanes, it is easy to upgrade of 50GbE and 100GbE networks. It is a cost-effective solution for datacenter upgrade and cloud-scale network expansion. This is why 25 GbE is favoured and highly recommended by those famous consortium.

SFP28 & QSFP28 Assemblies

The SFP28 (25G Small Form-Factor Pluggable) and QSFP28 (25G Quad Small Form-Factor Pluggable) transceivers and interconnect cables are high-density, high-speed product solution designed for 25GbE and 100GbE applications in the telecommunications, data center and cloud-scale networks. The emergence of these two form-factors pluggable certainly reflect the trend in the industry to aggressively bring 100GE density up and costs down.

Based on the SFP+ MSA form-factor, SFP28 assembly solution enables a new generation of high-density 25G Ethernet switches and NIC cards, facilitating server connectivity in data centers, and a conventional and cost-effective upgrade path for enterprises deploying 10G Ethernet links today in the ubiquitous SFP+ form factor.

QSFP28 transceiver, as a new type of 100G transceivers, offers four channels of high-speed differential signals with data rates ranging from 25 Gbps up to potentially 40 Gbps, and will meet 100 Gbps Ethernet (4×25 Gbps) and 100 Gbps 4X InfiniBand Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) requirements. QSFP28 has the same footprint and faceplate density as QSFP+ and is just slightly smaller than CFP4. Theoretically, QSFP28 seems to have the density advantage over CFP4, but CFP4’s higher maximum power consumption gives it the advantage on longer reach optical distances. As the two main types of 100GbE transceivers, each of them has its own merits. Only time will tell how this all plays out.

Conclusion

No matter which Ethernet speed upgrade path will become the winner in this race, there is only one purpose that is to get higher bandwidth and speed with lower cost. Obviously, 25 GbE solution is more suitable for the high-density data center. But at present, for long distance transmission, the existing 40/100GbE solution—QSFP/QSFP+ and CFP family (CFP, CFP2, CFP4) seems to be better. Fiber-Mart offers a comprehensive solution of fiber optic transceivers and cable assemblies. For data center, we offer a full product line of basic transceiver optics, such as 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-LX/LH SFPs, 10GBASE-LR SFP+ etc. We also offer high-density interconnection solution by launching whole series of 40GBASE QSFP+ optics and 100GBASE-LR4 CFP2 and CFP4 optics as well as the cable assemblies. Welcome to contact us over sales@fiber-mart.com and get detailed information about more cost-effective fiber optic solutions.

Tags: 25 GbE, 40/100 GbE, 40GBASE QSFP+, CFP2, CFP4, QSFP28