The Differences of OM5 Multimode Fiber Cables
Introduction
OM5 fiber, previously known as wide band multimode fiber or WBMMF, has been identified and affirmed by International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC). The adoption of the nomenclature has made OM5 a hot topic as the standards have been widely debated and are now finally concrete. This article will conclude the differences about OM5 fibers.
What's New About OM5 Multimode Fiber?
OM5 fiber is being presented as a potential new option for data centers with its greater link distance and higher speed. To welcome the selection of the new designation, here are five reasons to select OM5 fiber:
1. OM5 fiber specifications are already published by the Telecommunications Industry Association as TIA-492AAAE.
2. The OM5 and TIA-492AAAE specifications will be recognized in the upcoming release of ISO/IEC 11801 Edition three, and the American National Standards Institute cabling standard ANSI/TIA-568.3-D.
3. OM5 cabling is in support of all the traditional applications at least as well as OM4, and it is fully compatible and interoperable with OM3 and OM4.
4. The OM5 fiber is designed to support at least four low-cost wavelength within the range of 850-950 nm so as to optimize the support of emerging Shortwave Wavelength Division Multiplexing (SDWM) applications. It reduced the number of parallel fibers at least four times so that only two optical fibers (rather than eight) can be used to continue to transmit 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s. Reduced fiber counts can achieve higher speeds.
5. OM5 fiber has been on sale in the world and provided with pre-termination and field-termination. It can be installed in various enterprises network environment from campuses to buildings to the data centers.
What Is Different About OM5 Fiber ?
The momentum behind the new OM5 wide band multimode fiber in buildings and data centers witnessed a significant surge recently. But what makes it different from its previous versions?
OM5 Vs. OM4/OM3/OM2/OM1 MMF
Since OM1 and OM2 fiber can not support 25Gbps and 40Gbps data transmission speeds, OM3 and OM4 were the main choices for multimode fiber to support 25G, 40G and 100G Ethernet. However, it's becoming more costly for optical fiber cable to support next-generation Ethernet speed migration as bandwidth requirements increase. Against such a background, OM5 was born to extend the benefits of multimode fiber in data centers.
OM5 fiber is able to transmit up to four wavelengths near the traditional 850 nm operating wavelength. This will at least quadruple the current information carrying capacity of multimode fiber. Besides, OM5 is specified for operation from 850 nm to 953 nm, while the bandwidth of OM3 and OM4 decreases rapidly above the 850 nm operating wavelength.
Furthermore, OM5 is designed and specified to support at least four WDM channels at a minimum speed of 28Gbps per channel through the 850-953 nm window, while OM4 is specified only to work at the 850 nm window. Even though signals whose wavelength is greater than 850 nm will still be transmitted by OM3 and OM4, the absence of specification and test data outside the 850 nm window makes it difficult to predict and simulate the performance of short wavelength-based WDM systems. In contrast, OM5 fiber is specifically designed to carry at least four channels between 850 nm and 953 nm, and quadruples that capacity. Since instead of using four separate fibers to transmit four optical signals, the signals can be sent down one fiber over four separate operating windows.
Summary
OM5 fiber was chosen to be the new standard for wide band multimode fiber because it extends the benefits of this revolutionary multimode fiber within connected buildings and data centers worldwide. It is expected that all new multimode installations will now be OM5. To cater to today's need of data centers, FS.COM recently introduced the new OM5 multimode wideband fiber optic patch cables, which are characterized by better performance range, higher speed, lower insertin loss, greater system margin and longer reach.