Selection of high-density optical fiber pre-connection system for data centers

MPO/MTP high-density optical fiber pre-connection system is mainly used in three fields: application of high-density environment in data centers, application of optical fiber to building, application of optical fiber to optical splitter, 40G, 100g sfp, connection applications of SFP + and other optical transceiver devices. This article focuses on why MPO/MTP high-density optical fiber pre-connection system is used in the data center and how to choose this high-density optical fiber pre-connection system.

It is necessary to give a brief introduction to MPO/MTP before introducing why MPO/MTP is used in these scenarios. In the fields of communication and data transmission, the development of optical fiber connection joints is far richer than that of Copper connections. According to incomplete statistics, up to now, there have been hundreds of optical fiber connectors developed, but more than a dozen are actually used in a wide range. Throughout its development, optical fiber connectors have two significant stages of development: the first stage: to save space and develop towards miniaturization, optical fiber connectors have evolved from traditional FC, ST, and SC to LC, MTRJ, E2000.

The second stage: not only to save space, but also to meet the requirements of multi-core use, the optical fiber connector evolved from LC, MTRJ, E2000 to MU, MTP/MPO, now, an MTP/MPO multi-core connector can meet the requirements of 2-core, 4-core, 8-core, 12-core, and 24-core connections, and can reach up to 72-core connections.

In the second stage, the benefits of such development are obvious. Check the 40G and G requirements for optical fiber network transmission specifications. multi-core transmission, that is, 8-core or 20-core transmission. In this way, MPO/MTP can meet the requirements of high-speed network applications in a small space. However, it also brings great challenges to engineers on-site construction, and even tasks that cannot be completed. Of course, there is now a good alternative, that is, the pre-connection system products of the manufacturing plant.

MPO/MTP pre-connection systems have been used in data centers over the past few years, and are also the most important application scenarios of MPO/MTP pre-connection systems in China. The reason is not as noble as imagined, but an inevitable choice. The first reason is that the data center space is always insufficient. Just like a half year after Beijing's subway was built, the passenger flow was full, which is actually a conflict between limited resources and unlimited demand. This phenomenon is manifested in various fields in China. To solve the problem of insufficient space, you can increase the space or improve the space utilization. It is unrealistic to increase the space in a designed data center. Increasing the space utilization means increasing the density. As the data center's two major cabling systems: copper cable and optical cable cabling systems, in fact, copper cable systems can also adopt high density, but this high density is limited in space savings. Because not only does not meet the balance between high-frequency and larger cables, but also the electrical transmission performance of cables under high-frequency cables is not easy to meet, it also solves a series of problems brought about by the transmission of high-frequency electronic signals on multi-core copper cables. Of course, it is another topic to install a copper pre-connection system that is convenient for on-site installation. Therefore, to get more transmission bandwidth in the same space, switching to optical fiber transmission is an inevitable choice, but this does not mean that a high-density optical fiber pre-connection system is required.

The second reason is the result of the continuous increase in network speed. for optical fiber, dual-core optical fiber can support applications of Mbit/s, 1 Gbit/s, and 10 Gbit/s, but it does not use special encoding and protocols, it is difficult to support 40 GB and GB of Two-core optical fiber. Fortunately, over 200 experts from the IEEE working group have developed a standard to support such applications after years of efforts. This is the IEEE 3Ba specification that many people know now. Looking at the standards on this 457 page, we can easily find the definition of optical fiber cabling transmission. We can see that a single channel is 4-core or 10-core optical fiber, so the normal 40g and G optical fiber network communication is 8-core optical fiber and 20-core optical fiber. This poses a challenge to the traditional dual-core optical fiber transmission of data communication, that is, the use of high-density multi-core optical fiber, but even so, it is not necessary to use a high-density multi-core optical fiber pre-connection system.

Let's look at the third reason, which is more realistic, that is, the familiar Optical Fiber Connector, such as SC, LC does not meet the requirements of the MDI multi-core defined in this high-speed network standard, regardless of the number of cores and miniaturization. In addition, it is very difficult to complete the multi-core connection of such a single optical fiber in the field, because the failure of one core means that the entire root is unqualified. At the same time, it is difficult to obtain a complete guarantee of performance and meet the performance consistency requirements. It is an inevitable choice to transfer the complex work on site to a factory with a special assembly line and multiple types of equipment. Although this poses some challenges to the traditional data center cabling system, it is mainly manifested in the design phase and field survey and computing phase. It is necessary to determine the location of each cabinet and calculate the precise length of each Trunk optical cable, so that the factory can schedule production. However, this work is nothing for this high-performance optical fiber cabling system meeting the needs of high-speed networks and the potential performance uncertainty brought about by field construction. In fact, this is also a Failover machine that changes our traditional cabling thinking model. In fact, many industry products can be premade in factories. Lego in the toy industry and Ikea in the furniture industry may have long understood this idea.

The fourth reason is the relief of system integrators and the satisfaction of users. Because of the use of a high-density pre-connection system, it can greatly reduce the installation time on site, and greatly reduce the impact of on-site construction and installation on performance and the probability of performance uncertainty. This not only greatly reduces the construction difficulty and ensures the performance, but also greatly reduces the space for installation of the wiring system. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is widely used.

So how to implement a high-density MPO/MTP optical fiber pre-Connection System project? Of course, you must choose high-performance ones. However, I have been emphasizing for many years that the performance of a cabling project depends on four major factors: preliminary design, product performance, installation process, and project environment. In a traditional non-Pre-connected cabling system project, the influence of the four elements on the final performance of the project can be considered by 25%. However, this proportion will change greatly in the pre-connection system. Due to a large number of on-site installation in the project, the end-to-end work will be transferred to the pre-connection products in the early stage. At the same time, the results of the length calculation in the design phase will also be implemented in the factory. Therefore, the performance of the pre-connection product will not exceed 50% of the project's final performance. This situation makes the work in the pre-connection factory more critical.

How can the performance of MTP/MPO high-density fiber pre-connection system be guaranteed in a production plant? What is the difference between it and ordinary optical jumper, distribution frame assembly and production?

First, this production plant must comply with a series of quality management system certifications such as ISO9000. At the same time, the production process and product performance must comply with the industry's most comprehensive and rigorous standards for the production of Optical Fiber Connection components, for example, GR326 standard. Currently, factories that can produce optical fiber Jumpers are everywhere, but few have passed the GR326 standard certification developed by Telcordia. Telcordia's predecessor is Bell Communications lab, which is committed to the development of American standards, this includes writing US/global standards for Architecture Network products. For example, GR326.

Secondly, we need to know that MTP/MPO pre-connection system products, whether it is Truck or polarity module, whether it is Hardness or MPO patch cord processing technology is far more complex and difficult than the conventional SC, LC joint, processing a 12-core MPO connection head is not just a simple superposition of the workload and difficulty of processing 12 ticket SC or ticket LC. Without advanced equipment, superb workmanship, years of experience, and well-trained personnel, it is impossible to complete. The requirements for consistency and repeatability are extremely demanding. For example, the fiber height of a 12-core MPO/MTP connector is thousands of nm, what is more difficult is to ensure that the difference between these heights is less than several hundred nm, which is the requirement for consistency. It is the requirement for physical connection performance of 40g and G optical fiber networks. Looking at the Chinese market, I know that there are only a few factories dedicated to MTP/MPO high-density fiber pre-connection products, and there are only a few factories that can be produced in bulk. They have been specially sold to the North American market for many years, EPCOM certified by GR326 and verizon is one of the few.

Summary: This article discusses the reasons for using MPO/MTP high-density fiber pre-Connection System in the data center, and puts forward some suggestions on the selection of this new system, it is expected to help users in the data center and their peers engaged in fiber optic pre-connection systems.

This article is from the "Integrated Wiring workgroup" blog, please be sure to keep this source http://cteam.blog.51cto.com/358485/566873

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