Hello, everyone!
Today, I would like to continue on the prominence of fiber in the storage area network.
Normally, fiber-optic cabling is referred to by mode or the frequencies of lightwaves that are carried by a particular cable type. Fiber cables come in two distinct types (Below Figure 1).
Figure 1. Cable types
The cable types are described as follows:
Multi-mode fiber for shorter distances
Multi-mode cabling is used with shortwave laser light and has either a 50-micron or a 62.5-micron core with a cladding of 125 micron. The 50-micron or 562.5-micron diameter is sufficiently large for injected light waves to be reflected off the core interior.
Multi-mode fiber (MMF) allows more than one mode of light. Common multi-mode core sizes are 50 micron and 62.5 micron. MMF fiber is better suited for shorter-distance applications.
Where costly electronics are heavily concentrated, the primary cost of the system is not the cable. In this case, MMF is more economical because it can be used with inexpensive connectors and laser devices, therefore reducing the total system cost.
Single-mode fiber for longer distances
Single-mode fiber (SMF) allows only one pathway, or mode, of light to travel within the fiber. The core size is typically 8.3 micron. SMFs are used in applications where low signal loss and high data rates are required.
An example of this type of application is on long spans between two system devices or network devices, where repeater and amplifier spacing needs to be maximized.
Fibre Channel architecture supports both short wave and long wave optical transmitter technologies in the following ways:
Short wave laser
This technology uses a wavelength of 780 nanometers, and it is only compatible with MMF.
Long wave laser
This technology uses a wavelength of 1300 nanometers. It is compatible with both SMF and MMF.
The following Table 1, lists the cable types and their speed and distance.
Table 1. Fibre Channel modes, speeds, and distances
See the below Table 2. for multi-mode fiber (MMF) details. It shows the MMF designations, optical multi-mode (OM) numbering, fiber-optic cable diameters, and FC media designation.
Table 2. Optical multimode designations
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