My TN Connection

If you are reading this post and you are familiar with Transition Networks and the concept of media conversion, you are probably already aware of the Fiber to Copper conversion products that we provide. You may also be aware of the multimode to single-mode conversion products that we offer. But did you know that we also offer multimode to multimode converters and single-mode to single-mode converters? This may sound strange to you and you may be asking if both fiber types are the same, what sort of conversion would I need to do within my network? Well one example that we’ve written about before, is mixing 62.5 and 50 micron fiber within multimode environments. But the more prevalent example of where you would have the same fiber type - yet still need to do some sort of conversion for the equipment to “talk”, would be when you are connecting fiber with differing wavelengths, like single-mode at 1310nm and 1550nms. continue »

Keywords: connection, Copper, CWDM, Equipment, Fiber, Fibre, media conversion, Networks, Port, Products, SC, SFP, Single-mode Fiber, ST, Transition Networks, Wavelengths

The ink was hardly dry on the 10Gbase-T (10 gigabit Ethernet over UTP) standard and the industry discussion swung to the next big thing – 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet. While the latest technology being developed always makes for interesting discussion, it is the deployable technology that exists today that receives the most day-to-day conversation. To that end, we are only just beginning to see 10 gigabit Ethernet actually being deployed in local area network (LAN) environments.

The IEEE standards organization recently ratified the IEEE802.3an-2006 reference standard defining 10GBase-T allowing for 10 gigabits per second data transmission over Category-6a unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling at up to 100 meters distance. Since this standard is relatively new and coupled with the fact that the fiber standards and interfaces continue to be refined, I thought it may be beneficial to review some of the different copper and fiber standards and interfaces associated with the different 10GBase standards. continue »

Keywords: 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 100 Gigabit, 1000Base-X, 10Gb fiber, 10GBase, 10GBase-X, 40 Gigabit, cabling, Cat 5, Cat 6, Category-6a, Data Center, Fiber, IEEE, LAN, Media Converter, Media Converters, Products, SC, SFP, ST, Switches, Transceiver, unshielded twisted pair (UTP), XENPAK, XFP