MPO Cable Guide

Applications of MPO cables explained

TYPES OF MTP (MPO) CABLES

MTP MPO 10G 25G OM4 12 Fibre Patch Cord

1G to 25G

Polarity C cables

M310 Series

M400 MTP MPO Multimode SR4 400G 16 Fibre Patch Cable with Offset Key

40G and 100G

Polarity B cables

M400 Series

M1000 MTP MPO OM3 SR8 200G 24 Fibre Patch Cable

200G

Polarity B (MPO24f)

M1000 Series

M400 MTP MPO Multimode SR4 400G 16 Fibre Patch Cable with Offset Key

400G

Polarity B (MPO16f)

M800 Series

Introduction to MPO

MPO is the industry acronym for “multi-fiber push on.” MPO connectors have more than one fibre in a single ferrule and snap into place by a mechanical mechanism. Due to the difficulties in mating two connectors with multiple fibres, as opposed to using single fibre connectors such as an LC connector, different brands of MPO give different performance.

Fibre cables with MPO* type connectors first appeared on the market during the 1990s. These early cables suffered from poor optical performance and so their application was limited.

During the 2000s the performance of these MPO cables was improved largely by the wide adoption of the MT ferrule and the MTP connector.

Both the MT ferrule and the MTP connector are produced by US Conec and were later followed by the introduction of even higher performing ferrules such as the MT ELITE ferrule. As the demand for MPO cables increased other companies created MPO type connectors. Some of these matched the MTP ELITE connector for performance and others catered for the lower cost market.

MPO (multi-fibre push on) connector. A connector with more than 1 fibre terminated in the ferrule.
Typically these connectors have 12 fibres, however during the last 10 years 8 fibre, 16 fibre, 24 fibre, 48 fibre and 72 fibre connectors have been developed.

1G 10G MPO Cables

As explained above, the first use of MPO cables was within MPO cassette to MPO cassette based fibre network solutions. Typically this used a 12 fibre MPO connector and 12 core cables. The MPO cassettes were either 12 fibre or 24 fibre and presented LC ports at rack fronts and standard LC patch cords could make the final equipment connection.

With the recent development of 100G SR4 Ethernet using QSFP28 transceivers the demand for products within the M400 Series has increased.

As well as 100G SR4 there is also 100G SR10 transmission. SR10 uses 20 fibre cores to transmit 10 x 10G channels and requires an MPO cable with MPO 24 fibre connectors. Complete Connect’s M1000 Series offers complete SR10 and LR10 (PSM) options.

Using 12 fibre trunk cables

Standard Duplex MTP MPO Fibre Networking 12 Fibre Multimode

Using a 24 fibre trunk cable

MX Series Cassette to Cassette with one multimode 24 fibre trunk cable

Instead of using a traditional tight buffered cable which was common for internal networking, MPO cables could use a lighter, smaller and more flexible cable construction because MPO connectors could be terminated onto 250um fibres (not 900um used in tight buffered cable). This cable (know as micro cable or microcore cable) was lighter, smaller and enabled higher cable density and improved bend radius. This was perfect for use within data centres as the volume of fibre channels was continually increasing and space was at a premium.

As the demand for fibre port density has increased,so has the development of fibre management and the increased use of higher core count fibres (up to 144 is common).

40G and 100G MPO cables

The demand for higher data rates led to parallel networking; using multiple pairs of fibres working together to give one higher channel.

40G Ethernet was designed to use four 10G simultaneously transmitted channels. The transceivers (QSFP+ transceivers) required 8 fibre cores to transmit the 4 x 10G channels. Multimode 40G transceivers were designed to take an MPO 12 fibre connector which met the MPO standard. Even though this connector had a 12 fibre capacity, only 8 of the 12 fibres were required. MPO cables used for 40G Ethernet still often have 12 fibre cores and use 12 fibre MPO connectors. This is often a source of confusion.

Direct Connect

MTP MPO Patch Cable Solution Diagram Direct Connect

Via Backbone / Trunk cable

MX MTP Module to MTP Module 40G 100G Multimode

Complete Connect’s M400 Series was introduced in 2012 to meet the demands for 40G SR4 Ethernet. The M400 Series offers MPO cables for direct connect between 2 QSFP+ transceivers, plus a range of trunk cables, MPO breakout cables and fibre management products.

MPO Cables for 100G Ethernet

With the recent development of 100G SR4 Ethernet using QSFP28 transceivers the demand for products within the M400 Series has increased.

As well as 100G SR4 there is also 100G SR10 transmission. SR10 uses 20 fibre cores to transmit 10 x 10G channels and requires an MPO cable with MPO 24 fibre connectors. Complete Connect’s M1000 Series offers complete SR10 and LR10 (PSM) options.

Via M400 breakout cable

MX Series MTP Module to Breakout 40G 100G Multimode

Via a Backbone / Trunk cable and M400 Cassette

MTP MPO 100G Module to MX Cassette Multimode

200G MPO Cables

200G can be transmitted in a number of ways. With the creation of 400G many users are moving from 100G straight to 400G and bypassing 200G for their core network connections.

400G MPO Cables

400G can also be transmitted in a number of ways.

Current QSFP-DD transceivers are using 16 fibres (8 Tx and 8 Rx) to create 400G links by transmitting 8 lanes of 50G. These transceivers use MPO 16 fibre connectors.

QSFP-DD transceivers are also being developed to transmit 400G over 32 fibres. These use 16 x 25G lanes and use MPO 32 fibre connectors (our M1600 Series).

Technical Support

MPO CABLES SUMMARY

Fibre Count Data Rate Further Information Series
12 Fibre 1G and 10G Create LC ports
Connect SFP+ and SFP28
Cable 12 fibre
Polarity TYPE C
M310 Series
12 Fibre 40G Create MPO ports
Connect QSFP+
Cable 8 fibre
Polarity TYPE B
M400 Series
12 Fibre 100G Create MPO ports
Connect QSFP28
Cable 8 fibre
Polarity TYPE B
M400 Series
24 Fibre 100G Create MPO ports
Connect CFP CPAK
Cable 20 fibre
Polarity TYPE X
M1000 Series
24 Fibre 200G Create MPO ports
Connect QSFP-DD
Cable 16 fibre
Polarity TYPE X
M1000 Series
16 Fibre 400G Create MPO ports
Connect QSFP-DD
Cable 16 fibre
Polarity TYPE B
M800 Series

MPO CABLES: POINTS TO NOTE

Cable Polarity

For cables using MPO 12 fibre connectors there is A, B and C. For cables using MPO 16 fibre connectors there is A, B and C. For cables using MPO 16 fibre connectors there is A, B, C and X

MPO Adaptors

There are two types of adapter. Key up/key down and key up/key up. For a MPO 12 fibre connector a key up/key down adapter with connector fibre 1 to fibre 1, 2 to 2 etc. A key up/key down with connect fibre 1 to 12, 2 to 11 etc.

Cable Connector Gender

For all MPO connectors the are two genders: male (with pins) and female (without pins). MPO connectors have to connect male to female. All transceivers with MPO ports have male ports.


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