My TN Connection

When your vendor asks you if you want single-mode or multimode fiber, is your response “Whatever is cheaper” or “Whatever you think is best”? Or maybe you ask yourself, “Who would want a single strand of fiber?” If you answered yes to any of these questions or have wondered, just what is the difference between multimode and single-mode fiber, then this edition of Fiber FAQs is the one for you.

Before we get too deep into a discussion of multimode fiber and single-mode fiber, we need to define the word “mode” as it pertains to fiber optics. Think of a mode as a single wave or ray of light moving through a strand of fiber. From this, we can infer that single-mode fiber is made up of one mode and multimode fiber is made up of more than one mode. Take a look at the illustrations below, which show how light travels within each type of fiber. continue »

When you are deploying fiber within your network, the type of fiber cable that will need to be used is almost always dictated by the applications that will be supported on the network and the physical distance between the pieces of equipment that you are connecting. However, when the time comes to connectorize the fiber, there really isn’t a clear cut direction for what fiber connector to use. Often times a Network Manager will try to standardize based on the fiber connectors that are on the equipment they are linking to in their network, but this isn’t a hard and fast rule. In this edition of Fiber FAQ’s I would like to outline the most common fiber optic connectors and give some insight into when they are most often used. continue »

In many of our recent posts we have been addressing some advanced fiber optic topics like the proposed 100 Gig Ethernet standard, the use of fiber in the data center, and the advantages of the MTP connector. There is no doubt that these are all relevant topics for a lot of today’s data networking professionals, but what if you have never given any thought to the physical layer or have no idea why you would choose a fiber optic cabling infrastructure over copper? If you fall into this category or are just looking for a refresher on all things fiber related, Fiber FAQs series will be for you. In each post I will tackle a specific question directly related to fiber optics with the hope of shedding some light on this subject…pun fully intended! continue »