Seamless Migrations with Future-proof Fiber Cabling

It's acknowledged that network speed upgrades, then the matched fiber cabling need to be updated. It's time-consuming and involves a costly job. But how to avoid repeat rip-and-replace upgrades with more efficiency and cost savings? Future-proof fiber cabling is a suitable method. See more here and explore FS MTP®-24 fiber forward-looking cabling solutions.

Understanding Future-proof Fiber Cabling

Future-proof fiber cabling refers to fiber optic cable infrastructure designed to meet current and future data transmission speed, bandwidth, and reliability. This type of cabling aims to provide long-term value by accommodating advanced technology and increased data demands without requiring frequent replacements of the existing cabling equipment.

For example, a 10G fiber cabling system that uses LC duplex fibers for current transmission. When upgrading to 100G, network operators may need to deploy high-density MTP® products to save space. This is because MTP® terminates multiple fibers in a single connector (ranging from 8 to 144 fibers) while the LC connector only accommodates one optical fiber. To handle the higher 100G system, the existing LC cable needs to be changed, and the corresponding LC fiber panels also require an upgrade. This will lead to frequent changes in the fundamental fiber cabling system, increasing cost and installation time. However, with future-proof cabling, operators could continue to use the current cabling equipment for network migrations.

Benefits of Future-proof Fiber Cabling

The key to forward-looking cabling is investing in high-bandwidth cables and modular cable management tools that support future upgrades, which offer scalability, simplified maintenance, and reduced-cost fiber structured cabling with minimal disruption.

Scalability

A forward-looking cabling system allows for incremental upgrades rather than large-scale overhauls. For example, moving from 10G to 100G can be achieved by upgrading specific components rather than the entire cabling system.

Simplified Maintenance

Modular cabling systems often come with standardized and interchangeable components, making maintenance tasks simpler and faster. For example, FS FHD® fiber patch panels and cassettes allow quick changes and expansions without re-cabling, providing a neat and organized setup.

Cost Efficiency

While the initial investment might be higher for high-bandwidth fibers and modular cabling tools, forward-looking cabling saves money in the long run by reducing the need for frequent changes in cable management tools.

Practices for Future-proof Fiber Cabling

As mentioned above, the key to future-proof fiber cabling is investing in high-density fiber cables that support future upgrades. MTP® connectors stand out with their unparalleled advantages. This fiber connector allows for more connections in a given space than traditional LC connectors since it can terminate multiple fibers in a single connector (typically 8, 12, or 24 fibers). The high fiber count MTP® connectors allow for efficient parallel transmission, which is essential for high-bandwidth applications like 40G, 100G, and 400G.

Additionally, modular cabling tools also contribute to future-proof fiber cabling. Take FS FHD® series products as examples. The products include FHD® fiber enclosures, panels, and cassettes. The fiber enclosure is designed with standard EIA 19" rack rails and 1U FHD® fiber enclosure can accept up to 4 FHD® fiber panels or cassettes. This combination can manage up to 144 LC fibers or 1152 MTP®-24 fibers, providing high-density termination and splicing in 1U racks. Benefiting from their modular designs, the FHD® fiber enclosure can mix and match with the panels and cassettes based on actual needs, which gives data center operators the exact cabling solution they need.

As a result, combinations of MTP® fibers and FHD® series cabling deliver seamless upgrades and flexible data center cabling solutions. Since 24-fiber MTP® cables offer a higher fiber count than 8 or 12 fibers, more data can be transmitted over the same physical space. This is particularly advantageous as data centers strive to handle increasing data traffic and bandwidth requirements. Therefore, the following single-mode and multimode data center cabling practice takes MTP®-24 fiber cables and FHD® series high-density products as examples, explaining multiple-generation upgrade cabling approaches with minimized rip-and-replace.

Single-mode Seamless Upgrade Cabling Options

Single-mode fiber can handle high data rates over long distances, for example, MTP® OS2 fiber jumper supports up to 10km with 100G-PLR4 module. Thus, single-mode fiber structured cabling is welcomed by hyperscale data centers since they need to connect multiple data centers across regions or even globally. The following are three methods for accommodating future 40/100/200/400G links while minimizing rip-and-replace in fundamental cabling.

Method A

This link uses LC duplex cables for two side connections. And MTP®-24 jumpers and MTP®-24 to LC cassettes are deployed to connect the two sides. This connection method is recommended for data centers that use LC duplex cables to upgrade to 40G, 100G, 200G and 400G. Technicians only need to change the appropriate transceivers like 40G-LR4/LRL4/IR4, 100G-LR4/DR and 100G CWDM4, 200G-FR4, Q400G-FR4 on both sides, then upgrades are completed while maintaining the existing MTP® cabling infrastructure.

Method B

Method B is a 40G connection. 40G QSFP modules are installed on two sides, and MTP®-8 fiber jumpers are used to connect the modules. Then two 3-port MPO/MTP® to MPO/MTP® conversion cassettes are deployed separately, and a MTP®-24 fiber jumper is used to make the connection between the cassettes. Routing 40 to 10G data, optics like 4x10G-IR/LR/PLR4 are proposed on both sides, then the 40G will split to 4x10G to the 10G devices. For upgrading to 100G, 200G and 400G links, optics such as 40G-PLRL4, 100G-PSM4, 200G-DR4/SR4, 400G-DR4 are required on both sides. Therefore, the basic MTP®-24 fiber cabling infrastructure can be reserved during the upgrade.

Method C

This cabling option for delivering 100G is through the 10G ecosystem, creating 100G using 10 lanes of 10G. This design uses the same 24-fiber cable but swaps in MTP® fiber adapter panel (up to down), and extends 20-fiber connections to the equipment via CPAK 10x10G-LR modules. For upgrade connection, this link supports the following optics: 10x10-LR, 2x100-SR4, 2x100-PSM4.

Multimode Seamless Upgrade Cabling Options

For multimode fiber cabling, it is still the front-runner in modern enterprise data centers. Because multimode MTP® fibers can handle high data rates over the relatively short distances that enterprise campuses need. For instance, MTP® OM4 multimode fiber can support 100G Ethernet up to 300 meters via 100GBASE-eSR4 modules, which is sufficient for most intra-campus links. MTP®-24 multimode fiber infrastructures will help enterprise networks upgrade via the following two approaches in a reduced rip-and-replace way.

Method A

By employing a MTP®-24 jumper cable backbone paired with LC OM4 duplex patching, data centers can support 1 and 10G using SFP/SFP+ form factors. This specific cabling configuration, including MTP® jumpers, MTP® to LC cassettes, and LC OM4 fiber patch cords, can facilitate 40G connectivity when utilizing WDM technology, like QSFP+ 40G BiDi transceivers. For 100G migrations, optics like 100G-SR BiDi are required to complete 100G links while reserving the MTP®-24 fiber jumper system.

Method B

In this cabling option, MTP®-24 jumpers and 3-port MPO/MTP® to MPO/MTP® conversion cassettes are deployed. And it uses QSFP-40G modules and MTP®-8 jumpers on two sides for 40G transmissions. For 40 to 10G splitting links, 40G-SR4/CSR4/XSR4/ESR4 can make connections. For 100G links, 100G-SR4/XSR4 optics are necessary. Both will continue to utilize the MTP®-24 cabling system.

Conclusion

Overall, data centers need continuous updates to their cabling infrastructure driven by increasing data demands. Creating a future-proof fiber cabling that can scale from 10 up to 40/100/400G is a wise option. FS offers scalable and flexible fiber cabling solutions with high-bandwidth MTP® fibers and modular FHD cable management tools, helping data centers avoid repeat rip-and-replace installations in fiber cabling infrastructure as bandwidth needs increase, and ensure ROI and cost-effectiveness.