Introduction
The Introduction of 10 Gigabit Fibre Channel has obviously had an impact on the cabling requirements and this is a general guide as to the limitations and changes that may be considered.
Optical Bandwidth
The optical bandwidth of our standard Multi-Mode Fibre Channel cable is 500MHz/Km and in general this cable can be used for all applications, however the table below shows maximum distances for each transmission speed.
Speed Gbit/sec | Cable Length |
1 | 500m |
2 | 300m |
4 | 150m |
10 | 82m |
We have installed 2Gbit installations well over the 300m limitation without any problems although I suspect that 4Gbit and 10Gbit installations will be a lot less forgiving. Our standard cable can be used for 10Gbit installations, although the overall limitation on length will be greatly reduced.
10 Gigabit Fibre Channel
To achieve the maximum distance capability a higher optical bandwidth is required. This type of cable is known as Laser Optimised and is a graded refractive index 50/125 multimode cable that is optimised for 10 Gbit transmission speeds. This cable has an Optical Bandwidth of 2000 MHz/km and is fully compliant with all the relevant network standards. The table below shows length constraints for different types of 50/125 multimode cable.
10 Gbit/sec 50/125 Cable | |
500MHz/Km | 82m |
2000MHz/Km | 300m |
4700MHz/Km | 550m |
Standard Fibre Channel cables
Multi-mode cables supplied by us are 50/125 rated at 500MHz/Km which will satisfy the majority of requirements. If you require a higher spec cable then please see below for links to our web pages.