Introduction to High-density Modular System and Cabling Options

Data center and telecommunications rooms are rapidly outgrowing their footprints to meet increasing network demands. Keeping costs low and getting higher density are always the goals of data center managers. The modular system allows for rapid deployment of high density data center infrastructure as well as improved troubleshooting and re-configuration during moves, adds and changes. This article will talk about the modular system products and the associated cabling options.

Modular System Products

• Fiber Patch Panel

Fiber patch panels offer the highest level of scalability and density. High-density fiber patch panel or enclosure is an ideal solution for installation with space constraints, and available in flat and angled designs. The angled design increases rack density, managing high-density applications in one-fourth the area needed for conventional cable management systems.

• MTP/MPO Cassettes

There are two types of cassettes—LGX MTP/MPO cassette and HD MTP/MPO cassette. Both the two types provide secure transition between MTP and LC or SC discrete connectors. With LC or SC adapters on the front side and MTP at the rear, they are used to interconnect MTP backbones with LC or SC patching. The MTP cassettes contain factory controlled and tested MTP-LC fanouts to deliver optical performance and reliability. They can be used in 1RU or 3RU 19” multislot chassis.

 

The HD MTP/MPO cassette is more compact than the LGX MTP/MPO cassette. When using with patch panel, up to 5 HD MTP cassettes can be held in a 1RU HD chassis, but for LGX MTP cassette, only 3 cassettes can be held in it as shown in the above picture. Thus, the HD MTP cassette can improve the port density in the same 1RU panel and save more space.

• Fiber Adapter Panel

Fiber adapter panels snap quickly into the front of the fiber patch panels and enclosures for easy network deployment or moves, adds, and changes. They can house, organize, manage and protect fiber optic cables. For example, a 48 ports 1RU fiber enclosure can be loaded with four 12x MTP fiber adapter panels. It provides a comprehensive line of fiber distribution enclosures that offer a flexible and modular system for managing fiber terminations, connections, and patching in all applications.

 

Cabling Options for Modular System

High-density modular system features an innovative design allowing for a plug and play pre-terminated system configuration. Cable assemblies can be directly terminated and installed in the cassettes for fast and easy installation.

• MTP/MPO Trunk Cable

MTP/MPO trunk cables are used to interconnect cassettes, panels or ruggedized MPO fan-outs, spanning MDA, HDA and EDA areas, and to facilitate rapid deployment of high density backbone cabling in data centers and other high fiber environments reducing network installation or reconfiguration. They offer the flexibility in case any decision is made to change the connector style in the patch panels, new cassettes can be installed with the new connector style on the cross-connect side of the patch panel without having to change the connector on the cable trunk.

• MTP/MPO Harness Cable

MTP/MPO fanout assemblies route multifiber MTP connection into discrete connectors. They are used to directly interconnect MTP cassettes, panels or backbone MTP assemblies with the active equipment, saving costly data center rack space and easing fiber management.

Summary

The modular system is the choice to ease future expansion and for quick and easy system re-configuration, which can save space and meet the demand for high-density network infrastructure. The modular system products and associated cables are all available in FS.COM. For more details, please visit www.fs.com or contact sales@fs.com.

Source: www.fiberopticshare.com

Modular Patch Panel and Breakout Cabling: Which to Choose for Future-Proofing Network?

Coupled with emerging high-speed network standards and rapidly advancing technology, growing demand for faster access to larger volumes of data is having a profound impact on network infrastructure. As 40G becomes a standard option in data centers, the challenge of connecting 40G equipment with existing 10G equipment moves front and center. Two different types of solutions have been developed to connect 10G equipment with higher-speed equipment in the same data center: breakout cabling and modular patch panels. It is essential to understand the benefits and challenges of each type of solution in order to select the one that meets your current and future connectivity needs most effectively.

Breakout Cabling Solution

A breakout cable is a multi-strand cable, which is divided into multiple duplex cables. For instance, a 40G breakout cable has four individual 10G duplex cables totaling eight strands, while a 100G breakout cable has 10 duplex cables and 20 strands. A breakout cable has LC connectors at one end and an MTP/MPO connector at the other.

Working Principle, Benefits and Challenges

Let’s take an example to get clear the working principle of breakout cables. Assume you want to integrate 10G servers into a 40G network. For each port on the switch, you will need a breakout cable with an MTP/MPO connector on one end and four duplex LC connectors on the other end. The MTP/MPO connector plugs into the 40G switch port and each duplex LC connector plugs into a 10G port on each server.

 

The primary benefit of using the breakout cabling solution is that slower-speed equipment can be connected to higher-speed equipment successfully, such as the 10G servers and 40G switch. Although the breakout cables enable different speed equipment connection, they present some challenges, such as cable congestion, repair, flexibility and scalability. Breakout cables are difficult to reconfigure when you add or upgrade equipment, requiring frequent overhauls of cabling infrastructure. Not only is this approach costly and time-consuming, it limits your ability to plan properly for future growth. This is specially problematic given that future port and bandwidth growth will inevitably require integrating new network cabling standards.

Modular Patch Panel Solution

Modular patch panels are comprised of rack-mountable enclosures designed to house a range of modular, removable fiber cassettes. Supporting various fiber network cabling standards, the cassettes are easy to mix, match, add and replace as your connectivity needs grow and change.

Working Principle, Benefits and Challenges

The modular fiber cassettes are the key to this solution. The cassettes allow users to interconnect different fiber speeds simply by plugging standard, duplex LC cables into one side of the cassette, and MTP/MPO cables into the other side.

 

Modular patch panel solutions offer a range of benefits, including integrate diverse cabling standards, provide flexibility and scalability, reduce cable congestion and save space. Modular patch panel solutions allow the users to connect diverse network cabling standards seamlessly, such as 10/40/100/120G. When you need to integrate new cabling standards to support higher network speeds, you can simply swap existing cassettes with new cassettes that support the new standards. The network can grow and change on-demand, without the costly, labor-intensive hassle of replacing channels end-to-end. Moreover, reduced cable slack means less clutter, less confusion and an easily organized, better-labeled cabling infrastructure. By managing varying port densities and speeds in a single high-density patch panel, the users can save valuable rack space, helping to lower data center costs.

Although the modular patch panels have many advantages, they also have challenges. The biggest challenge is selecting a modular patch panel solution with the features and capacity to meet your current needs, as well as flexibility and scalability to adapt to and grow with your future needs.

Modular Patch Panel – A Solution for Future-Proofing Network

With increasingly higher network speeds always just around the corner, you want to make sure your investment in upgrading and building out your network infrastructure is spent wisely. Breakout cabling solutions served an important purpose when 40G switches first entered the marketplace and required immediate connectivity solutions. However, they require end-to-end replacement every time you upgrade equipment. Modular patch panel solution has been a game-changer. Designed for maximum connection density, flexibility, scalability and compatibility with both existing and emerging high-speed network standards, they allow users to seamlessly and conveniently integrate equipment with different network speeds to meet connectivity needs today, and cost-effectively future-proof network for tomorrow.

Source:  http://www.fiberopticshare.com

What Can High-density Fiber Patch Panel Achieve?

In today’s data centers and SAN environments, space is often at a premium, making density more critical than ever. High-density fiber optic solutions offer the users performance and reliability. Using a comprehensive solution of high-density fiber enclosures or patch panels with either adapter panels or pre-terminated cassettes provides a complete fiber cross connect patching solution for applications where maximum density is required.

Basis of High-density Fiber Patch Panels

 

The fiber patch panel, or fiber enclosure, is built and designed for efficient cable organization, management and protection within the racks. High-density fiber patch panel consists of a panel enclosure and modular HD cassettes, which can connect a 40G/100G fiber network feed (using MTP cable) and segment it into standard LC connections in order to interface with 10G devices. The cassettes are housed in a space-saving, rack-mountable, panel enclosure that can hold different amounts of cassettes, depending on the installation requirements.

 

What Can High-density Fiber Patch Panel Achieve?

 

The high-density patch panel can provide fast and easy deployment of high-density interconnects and cross-connect in data centers. The following are some advantages of using high-density fiber patch panels.

Simplify Cabling Deployment: With the fiber patch panel in place, there is no need to run long jumpers across the room, under the floor or in overhead conveyance. And instead, you simply run a short fiber patch cable from your SAN or network switch up to the fiber patch panel/enclosure. It’s really that simple.

Save Space: High-density fiber patch panel is one of the best space savers in the data center. It helps to increase port density by allowing you to fit more cables into a smaller space. Most importantly, it allows you to save space and stay organized.

Increase Port Density: Besides better space optimization, high-density patch panel can achieve double the port density in 1U of rack space. This allows for density increases and technology changes without a complete tear-out and replacement of existing infrastructure.

Ease of Installation: As described above, cassette is a part of the patch panel. When installing the cassette, no tools are required in the panel enclosure. And using push-pull tabs, connections can easily be locked or unlocked in the panel. Each cassette features factory terminated connectors that reduce the time and labor required of field connector terminations.

Flexibility and Adjustability: Fiber patch panels can connect different generations of equipment, such as 10G, 40G, 100G in a simple panel-cassette system. And network reconfigurations are highly adjustable due to the modular cassette system.

Cost-effective Solution for 40G/100G Network: Employing a high-density fiber patch panel is the most effective solution for overcoming cabling congestion associated with 40G/100G network connections as the modular plug-and-play cassettes can be changed when higher bandwidth becomes needed. It can manage, allocate and control the connections of network equipment of varying bandwidths. Cable management is simplified because the fiber patch panel can be changed or expanded by installing a new cassette instead of running new cables. By simply patching the 40G MTP cables at the back and the standard LC cables to devices in the front of the cassette, the IT staff don’t need to pull a new fan-out cable each time they need a new connection. Modular cassettes allow to expand whenever you need to accommodate the necessary bandwidth and connectors.

 

Summary

 

High-density fiber patch panel offers the highest level of scalability and highest density in the market. They enable a seamless distribution for bandwidth from 100G to 40G to 10G. FS.COM provides high-density fiber patch panels with various configurations. Any one of them would be an excellent option for your network. More details, visit www.fs.com or contact us over sales@fs.com for the detailed information.

Source: http://www.fiberopticshare.com/

Deploy 40GBASE-UNIV Transceiver to Achieve More Cost-effective Data Center Upgrade

Due to server consolidation, virtualization, and performance improvements, there is a growing need in the data center for 40GbE switch connections. For many data center operators, this upgrade and conversion is more challenging based on two primary factors. Firstly, the potential for a reconfiguration of the physical layer of the network based on reduced reach of the OM3/OM4 multimode optics from 10GBASE-SR (300/400 m) to 40GBASE-SR4 (100/150 m). Secondly, the existing fiber optic cabling plant may need to be upgraded based on the additional fiber count needed to support the IEEE-defined 40GBASE-SR4 parallel optics. These two factors bring the 40GBASE-UNIV optical transceiver to market.

What Is 40GBASE-UNIV QSFP+ Transceiver?

The 40GBASE-UNIV QSFP+ is a pluggable optical transceiver with a duplex LC connector that can operate with both single-mode fiber and multimode fiber. Generally, the transmission distance could be up to 150 m over OM3/OM4 and up to 2 km over SMF. It has 4 channels of 10G multiplexed inside the module to transmit and receive an aggregate 40G signal over a single pair (2 strands) of fiber. It is called “Universal” because of its ability to operate with both SMF and MMF without the need for any software/hardware changes to the module or any additional hardware in the network. The 40GBASE-UNIV QSFP+ offers a very cost-effective connectivity solution and unique value proposition for data centers to migrate from 10G to 40G with minimal disruption over existing single-mode and multimode infrastructure.

Benefits of 40GBASE-UNIV QSFP+ Transceiver

40G transmission over 2 fibers—Existing 40G transceiver for short reach, such as 40GBASE-SR4, utilizes four independent 10G transmitters and receivers for an aggregate 40G link, requiring a total of 8 fibers per link. It uses an MPO-12 connector and requires a parallel multimode fiber (OM3 or OM4). This is four times more fiber than is required for 10G short reach links (see Figure 1). The 40GBASE-UNIV transceiver also uses four transmitters and four receivers but has built in optical multiplexing and de-multiplexing, which results in a duplex connector and hence operates over the same duplex fiber infrastructure as 10GBASE-SR.

Figure. 1

Save cost—Besides the reduced number of fibers per 40G link, the 40GBASE-UNIV transceiver offers significant cost savings in the overall fiber cable infrastructure. Customers retain the existing structured cabling system as is for 10G to 40G migration, but they have to change the patch cables and patch panel infrastructure to use a 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+.

The Figure 2 shows typical 1-trunk cable infrastructure for QSFP+ SR4, and Figure 3 shows the associated cabling cost with 40G link as in Figure 2.

Figure. 2

Figure. 3

Figure 4 shows typical 1-trunk cable infrastructure for QSFP+ UNIV, and Figure 5 shows the cabling cost associated with 40G link as in Figure 4.

Figure. 4

Figure. 5

A saving of over 75% on the cabling equipment alone is realized from the UNIV transceiver. The significant cost savings make the 40GBASE-UNIV transceiver an ideal choice for 40G leaf-spine connections with existing multimode fiber.

Easy migration to 100G with single-mode fiber—As data rates increase from 40G to 100G and beyond to 400G, there is a strong desire for data centers to move to single-mode for cost effectiveness and to future proof the fiber infrastructure. Due to the limitations of multimode transceivers to support existing distances with ever increasing data rates, migrating to 100G and 400G in the future will be simpler with single-mode fiber. However, the major pain point in this transition has traditionally been the optics cost. Single-mode transceivers typically cost up to 4 times more compared to multimode transceivers. The 40GBASE-UNIV transceiver has broken this barrier with the following reasons:

• Cost of the optical transceiver is less than 2 times of multimode transceiver
• Same optics for SMF and MMF
• Investment protection as the same optics can be used when migrating from MMF to SMF
• Compatible with industry standard 40GBASE-LR4 and the LR4-Lite (1km version)

Figure 6 shows typical 1-trunk single-mode fiber cable infrastructure for QSFP+ UNIV, and Figure 7 shows cabling cost associated with a 40G link using all single-mode fiber infrastructure as in Figure 6.

Figure. 6

Figure. 7

Conclusion

The 40GBASE-UNIV transceiver enables data centers to run at 10G today to seamlessly upgrade to 40G without having to re-design or modify the cable infrastructure. It also offers a transition path for customer planning migrations to single-mode fiber in data centers with a single transceiver that bridges the gap between multimode and single-mode optics. FS.COM provides 40GBASE-UNIV transceivers and the associated optics for 40G and 100G connectivity. All of the optics are tested on the corresponding equipment to ensure the excellent performance with the customers’ devices.

 Originally published: www.fiberopticshare.com