Top 8 Brands of Fiber Cassettes

As an integral part of the cabling system, fiber cassettes can integrate splice solutions and patches into a compact package, which not only simplifies the access of cassettes to the adapters and connectors but also saves lots of space in data centers. Besides, fiber cassettes also have strong versatility and durability when installed in the field, realizing flexible cable management and also reducing maintenance costs to a certain extent, which are ideal for data center deployment and network management. The eight major brands of fiber cassettes are shown below.

Top 8 Brands of Fiber Cassettes

Typically, there are several great fiber cassettes on the market, eight of which will be introduced in detail below.

Panduit

HD Flex Fiber Optic Cassettes provided by Panduit enable varieties of options for fiber channel network deployments. In fact, there are mainly four kinds of fiber cassettes in Panduit: 1-MPO-to-6-duplex-LC; 1-, 2-, and 3-MPO-to-12-duplex LC; 1-MPO-to-4-duplex-LC for breaking out parallel-optic applications, and 6-port duplex LC cassettes for splice terminations.

According to Panduit, their fiber cassettes are part of Panduit's HD Flex fiber optic cabling system, which allows system designers to customize the configuration and breakout structure according to their application requirements. Moreover, these fiber cassettes can also maximize space utilization while optimizing cable management, thereby increasing network deployment for data centers and large enterprises.

Corning

As a famous multinational technology company, Corning recently enriched its cassette-enabled products by adding an environmental distribution center (EDC) and an industrial connector housing (ICH). With the help of EDC and ICH, enterprises are allowed to move, add and replace their fiber equipment easily, which simplifies the difficulties of cabling management and network deployment.

What's more, because of the large fiber optic capacity of EDC and ICH, there is no need for customers to purchase multiple housings for most deployments. And they are also compatible with a variety of termination types, including single fiber, ribbon fiber splice, as well as mechanical and splice connectors, which makes them ideal for industrial, marine, security, or traffic control applications.

Sumitomo Electric Lightwave

Fiber Optic eXchange (FOX) Cassettes from Sumitomo Electric Lightwave are compatible with a variety of cables (including air-blown fiber optic tubes), allowing cables to be quickly and safely terminated into boxes without any splice trays. Besides, the entry point of the FOX cassette acts as an MPO adapter port for flexible conversion to MPO cassettes, giving installers a great degree of flexibility.

In addition to the high compatibility, FOX cassettes also enjoy great convenience in installation. As Sumitomo points out, the white ABS body of this cassette has a removable splice shuttle for easier installation and provides excellent fiber color visibility. And the FOX cassettes also have wall mounting holes on the body, allowing users to install them anywhere. With all these advantages, Sumitomo Electric Lightwave's FOX cassettes are very suitable for data centers and other networking applications.

Aflglobal

There are different types of cassettes in AFL's ASCEND optical cassette series, including conversion cassettes, tap cassettes, and WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) cassettes. Generally, conversion cassettes enable the flexible transition from one BASE platform to another. Tap cassettes provide a convenient access point for monitoring real-time signals. And WDM cassettes can extend fiber bandwidth in CWDM or DWDM applications.

In fact, as a part of the high-density platform, ASCEND optical cassettes can provide a variety of configurations for multiple applications, such as BASE-8, BASE-12, and BASE-24 configurations. Besides, with low-loss MPO connectors and high compatibility with all ASCEND housings, AFL's ASCEND optical cassette enables flexible access to a single connection, which can minimize interference with other fiber connections. Therefore, AFL's ASCEND optical cassette is also an ideal option for data centers, central offices, and structured cabling networks.

Clearfield

As a core component of every product in Clearfield's FieldSmart fiber management system, Clearview Blue Cassette of Clearfield offers 12-48 connection ports with SC or LC connectors depending on the choice of adapter style. A single Clearview Blue Cassette is available in patch cord and splice, patch cord only (stub), or plug and play (MPO/MTP) configuration in any network environment, making Clearfield the industry's most flexible and scalable fiber management platform.

What's more, to meet the requirements beyond 12 SC ports, the double-height 24-fiber can provide additional splice capacity with Clearview expansion rings for greater flexibility and scalability in the same footprint. And dual MPO/MTP access can also be used on either side of the cassette, which provides plug-and-play (MPO/MTP) configuration for any network environment and greatly increases flexibility in fiber routing.

Tactical Deployment Systems

According to Tactical Deployment Systems, the HD8² High-Density Fiber Optic Patching System shows excellent advantages in terms of easy installation and space-saving.

For one thing, the HD8² cassette chooses smaller square cassettes than typical flat wide cassettes, which can fit into a smaller form factor. Compared with the traditional MTP/MPO cassettes, HD8² cassettes can save up to 100% space per cassette.

For another, different from the complex and bulky traditional designs, the HD8² cassette has a snap-on pulling eye cap attached to the front, which can be used as both a pull-eye and a cover to protect the internal connectors. Actually, the integrated pulling eyes can simplify the installation of pre-terminated trunked cassettes and also reduce the dB loss by reducing the number of termination points in the overall cabling design. Overall, the installation time can be reduced by up to 75% to 85%, thereby providing a lot of convenience for cable management.

Optical Cable Corp

Fiber cassettes of Optical Cable Corp also provide a flexible, versatile, and scalable option for enterprises and data centers. Generally speaking, OCC fiber cassettes are ideal for a variety of application scenarios, including telecommunication closets, data centers, Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), remoted terminals, and Distributed Antenna System (DAS).

The OCC cassette features high compatibility and ease of installation. It has a removable adapter plate to realize density upgrades and integrate new connector standards into existing infrastructure. In addition, the cassette also has removable splice sleeve holders that accommodate 12 splice sleeves and allow access to all splice sleeves. In that case, the OCC cassette can help enterprises achieve fast cabling deployment and also provide them with a highly scalable network infrastructure.

FS.com

As a network equipment supplier, FS also provides a series of fiber cassettes on the market. Basically, these fiber cassettes can be divided into six categories, including MTP®/MPO-LC Cassettes, MTP®/MPO-SC Cassettes, MTP®/MPO-MDC Cassettes, LC TAP Cassettes, MTP®/MPO TAP Cassettes, and MTP®/MPO-LC TAP Cassettes.

Take the FHD series MTP® fiber cassettes as an example, they are fully compatible with all FHD enclosures, which contain multiple sizes (1U/2U/4U) and styles for building backbone, data center, and enterprise applications. Besides, the FHD series MTP® fiber cassette also provides rear 8/12/24 fiber MTP® adapters that connect to front LC/SC/MDC adapters, which are used for interconnecting with high-density fiber optic cable assemblies for a variety of applications. What's more, enterprises and data centers can also benefit from these fiber cassettes for their 35dB ultra-low loss, allowing for more mating or longer link distances.