Seemingly on the heels of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, it’s remarkable to think that within two years we’ll likely be seeing network gear and cabling infrastructure capable of supporting 40 and 100 Gb/s. A new article from OFS explains the drivers behind the need for more bandwidth and higher speeds, and provides an overview of the approach the IEEE 802.3ba Task Force is taking to develop the standards. The article focuses primarily on enterprise or premises applications such as data centers that utilize mostly multimode fiber, and also discusses the technical issue of “delay skew” and whether it will impact the cable designs used for these applications.
Get the full story >>

Since the development of the OM3 and 802.3ae standards, it’s become clear that quantifying Differential Mode Delay and transmitter mode power distributions is critical to helping ensure that high speed multimode fiber (MMF) links will work as intended. This has lead to wide adoption of MMF in enterprise applications for 10 Gb/s links as long as 300 meters. Now, the value of MMF is being extended with enhanced multimode products such as those under development as OM4 fiber, with an effective modal bandwidth of 4700 MHz-km as a requirement. A new study from OFS demonstrates the importance of accurately measuring the DMD of fibers specified to 4700 MHz-km bandwidth to help ensure excellent systems performance.
Get the full story >>

Hancock Telecom, the first incumbent telephone company in Indiana to provide Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), is using AllWave® FLEX Fiber in all of its cable and connectivity products. The provider now offers triple play services to numerous subscribers, including voice, data and IPTV, for less than one hundred dollars per month. Hancock uses AllWave FLEX Fiber to connect businesses and residences in Greenfield, IN and surrounding areas. “Working with a single vendor and single premium fiber end-to-end throughout our OSP and CO network has made our FTTH rollout in Central Indiana seamless and allowed us to take advantage of 50 percent more of the spectrum for future DWDM-PON applications,” said George Plisinski II, Senior Fiber Technician, Hancock Telecom. “It has solved our high attenuation issue when splicing to the drop at the house and relieved us of fiber breakage problems incurred with other suppliers’ fibers.”
Get the full story >>

Whether for environmental reasons or cost concerns (or both), companies are increasingly interested in building “greener” data centers. At issue are the challenges of minimizing costs associated with power consumption and cooling. Higher power consumption means increased energy costs and greater need for heat dissipation. This requires more cooling, which adds even more cost. The good news: Fiber can help cut energy and cooling costs through lower power consumption, less heat dissipation, and reduced cable congestion. The comparatively low power requirements of networks using high-speed optical fiber like OFS’ LaserWave® Fiber can offer a big advantage over copper.
Get the full story >>

... OFS to Exhibit, Present Seminar at BICSI Winter Conference
Mark your calendars: OFS will exhibit its leading-edge optical fiber offerings, including LaserWave 550 and LaserWave 300 (OM4/OM3) Fibers, at the BICSI Winter Conference in Orlando, January 18 – 22 (booth 1115). We’ll also be speaking at “Keys to Successfully Implementing Fiber in the Data Center,” an educational luncheon co-presented by OFS and Fluke Networks. The event will cover topics such as how to reallocate enhanced bandwidth of OM4 fiber to help increase loss budgets, and the practical implications of proposed 40- and 100-gigabit systems. You’re invited to the free luncheon on Tuesday, Jan. 20 from 12:00 – 1:15 p.m. Stop by our booth for more information.