MPO/MTP Solution for High-Density Data Centers

With the rapid development and prevalence of cloud computing and big data, the requirements for transmission speed and data capacity become much higher than ever before, which makes 40/100G Ethernet be an inevitable trend for data center cabling system. However, as science and technology develop day by day, new questions are always following soon and waiting for the right solutions. For the coming and progress of 40/100G Ethernet network, the traditional LC cabling is too complicated to meet the demands for high density in data centers. Thus, making the traditional LC cabling less complicated or designing a brand new kind of cabling to replace the previous one becomes an imminent issue.

How to solve the issue so that the time and space spent on cable installation would not be wasted? MPO/MTP cabling solution turns out to be the right method for high-density, easy plug and play connection in complicated cabling infrastructure.

What’s MPO/MTP?

MPO/MTP is a technology deployed for multi-fiber applications, which aims at pulling just one single cable with multiple fibers. The word MPO stands for “Multiple-Fiber Push-On/Pull-off”. Through MPO/MTP technology, you can replace 12 or 24 LC connectors with only one MPO/MTP connector. In other words, you only need to patch one cable with multiple fibers, instead of patching 12 or 24 separate fiber cables.

Generally, MPO/MTP technology is a high-density, high-performance solution, widely used for 40/100G Ethernet network as well as fast installation of enterprise data center. With the advantage of MPO/MTP fiber systems, a much higher bandwidth transmission in data communication is no longer a dream.

MPO/MTP Fiber Optic Jumper Cable

MTP/MPO fiber optic jumper cable consists of MTP/MPO cable and MTP/MPO connectors, which is designed for the reliable and quick operations in data centers. With its advantages of less space and scalability improvement, significant space and cost savings are provided to user. What should be noted is that MTP cable is upgrade version of the former MPO, with better optical and mechanical performance. As for the connectors, both MTP and MPO connectors are multi fiber connectors, each of which has many fiber optic channels. Since MPO/MTP connectors are the up-and-coming standard optical interface for 40/100G Ethernet network, there is no doubt that MPO/MTP fiber optic jumper cable will eventually flood the data center. After all, the high fiber count in one connector creates endless possibilities.

Advantages of MPO/MTP Products

Compared with traditional fiber products, there are many improvements in MPO/MTP Products, such as, faster and easier installation, lower cost and higher density with less space. The following will introduce the detailed information for MPO/MTP products’ advantages.

As we know, in contrast to traditional fiber cabling, MPO/MTP cabling is much easier and faster. It is estimated that the installation time of MPO/MTP cabling can be reduced by up to 75% for MPO/MTP products’ simple push-pull latching mechanism. The installation method of MPO/MTP products is just pulling and plugging, which is designed to easy and intuitive insertion and removal. Hence, all unpredictable field termination troubles can be eliminated, while the installation time involving a costly high-qualified workforce can be reduced to a minimum.

High density is another feature of MPO/MTP products. For their multi-fiber structure, there are 12/24 fibers in only one cable running at the same time, providing 12/24 times the density, which facilitates high density communication. Beside, most MPO/MTP products belong to modular solutions, which could be a good choice to ease future expansion and for quick and easy system reconfiguration.

Conclusion

With the improvement of network technology, 40/100G Ethernet seems to be a prevalent trend. To meet the growing demands of fiber optic market, MPO/MTP products are developed and largely used in a really fast manner, dramatically providing the ideal solution for high density cabling data center.

Comparison of Multimode Patch Cable and Single-mode Patch Cable

Fiber optic patch cables are also referred to as fiber optic patch cords or fiber optic jumper cables, which are designed to connect the optical transmitter, receiver and terminal box in a simple way. With the greater advantages, the fiber optic patch cables become an inevitable choice to set up large-scale network, instead of copper cables. To meet the requirement of fiber optics market, the types of fiber optic patch cables are being more and more diversifying, which can be classified by fiber cable mode, fiber cable structure, connector types, etc.

When selecting the fiber optic patch cables, you’ll find many types of fiber optic patch cables in your list and you may feel a little confused about the selection. In this article, it will mainly introduce the differences between single-mode patch cable and multimode patch cable, which will help you have a good knowledge of this classification.

Structure Difference

In general, the fiber optic patch cable is composed of fiber optic cable and connectors in the view of the external structure. As for the internal structure, it has one transparent glass core with the property of high refractive index in the center of fiber optic patch cable, which makes optical signal transmitted as long as possible with low loss. Meanwhile, the core is covered by a protective cladding with the property of low refractive index, which strengthens the function of low signal loss. Besides, the fiber optic patch cable has a thick jacket outside to protect its core and cladding from the damage of external environment.

However, in addition to the similarities, there is a true structural difference between single-mode patch cable and multimode patch cable. Detailedly, the core diameter of the multimode patch cable is always 50 μm or 62.5 μm, while the core diameter of the single-mode patch cable is much smaller, 9μm. From the following picture, we can know exactly what the core diameter difference is between single-mode patch cable and multimode patch cable.

Color Difference

Fiber optic patch cables are always differently colored, such as, yellow, orange. Is there any classification according to distinct color? In principle, the color of the single-mode patch cable is yellow, as the multimode patch cable is orange, aqua or light blue. That’s to say, yellow optic patch cable would be a single-mode patch cable, and the aqua fiber patch cable is usually a multimode patch cable. The following figure provides the color difference between single-mode patch cable and multimode patch cable for your reference.

Application Difference

For its small core diameter, the single-mode patch cable can only carry the single optical signal in the same mode with different frequencies, which has little modal dispersion in the signal transmission. Meanwhile, its light source is provided by laser, which means that the signal power in single-mode patch cable is very strong. Therefore, the single-mode patch cable is commonly used in the applications for long distance transmission. What should be noted is that, due to its advantages of wide transmission band, big capacity and high speed, it is much more expensive than the multimode patch cable.

As for the multimode patch cable, it is clearly different from the single-mode one. It can carry more than one light signals in the different modes, which requires a much longer core diameter. Under this condition, it seriously causes the disadvantage of large dispersion. The longer the distance the signal is transmitted through multimode patch cable, the larger the dispersion is. Besides, its light source is provided by LEDs and the signal power in multimode patch cable is not so strong as in single-mode patch cable accordingly. Hence, the multimode patch cable is designed for short distance transmission with lower cost.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from this article that different fiber patch cables are designed for specific aims. If you want the high-speed and long-distance transmission, you are suggested to choose the single-mode patch cable; if low cost and short-distance transmission is demanded, the multimode patch cable must meet your needs. Just choose the suitable one for your network.