10Gigabit OM3 and OM4 Fiber Optic Cables

With network speed requirements continuing to increase, especially in high-demand industry sectors such as data centres and service providers, there has been a need for faster and more stable optical fiber infrastructure to support it. OM3 was the first standard to emerge, codifying laser optimization of multimode fiber. This technology was the first to allow designs of laser transmission systems utilizing multimode optical fiber without the use of mode conditioning patch cord. It allowed for 10 gigabyte transmissions. OM4 has stepped in due to the need of supporting longer range applications.

OM4 fiber cable plays a pivotal role in allowing the development of future-proof network solutions for high-demand applications. When coupled with fiber technologies such as the MTP connector, the capacity of OM4 to provide a large bandwidth overhead becomes a great advantage. With it being a newer standard it has also been designed with newer transmission standards in mind, such as the steady influx of 40G Ethernet and the eventual 100G Ethernet rollouts. Where OM3 will be able to support these technologies, OM4 will provide longer distance support for each development and therefore allow a considerably greater level of flexibility at a later stage when upgrade programs commence.

OM3 vs OM4

OM4 is capable of handling 10G Ethernet up to a distance of 400-550m (depending on module capability) where OM3 can only manage up to 300m. The benefit of this is that a single multimode cable run can be used for longer distances than before, removing the need to use more expensive single mode fibre and modules for such mid-sized runs as 500m. OM4 can tolerate a higher level of loss at distances between 200-300m as it is designed to operate at longer distances than OM3. It may be a more flexible option for network managers to install OM4 in these instances, even though OM3 can often manage, as the OM4 option will allow for greater loss due to lower quality terminations, splices or increased bends.

While OM3 fiber will still be future proof in most applications, allowing speeds of 10GB/s up to 100GB/s, OM4 fiber offers users longer long distances and more wiggle room in optical budgets.

OM3 and OM4 fiber cables are typically used in data center structured cabling environments running high speeds of 10G or even 40 or 100 Gigabit Ethernet, SAN (Storage Area Networking), Fiber Channel, FCOE (Fiber Channel Over Ethernet) with such manufacturers as Cisco, Brocade, EMC and others. Typical applications could be virtualization or internal cloud core data center applications.

10G multi-fiber cable assemblies are a necessity for any data center looking for high speed networking throughput. FiberStore provides the cable choice of OM4 OM3 10G fiber cables with standard and multi-fiber assemblies. FiberStore offers a full line of OM3 and OM4 product line. While FiberStore still able to supply the OM3 cable and OM4 fiber patch cables. Our line of multimode duplex fiber cables will be sure to enhance your data transmissions over at a longer distance and at higher data rates than you’ve previously experienced.