Everything You Need to Know About Fiber Optic Ethernet

In the last decade, a wide variety of applicationsstrand of optical fiber. (Both 100Base-FX and
have been developed that covers a dozen of100Bse-SX use two strands of optical fibers). It uses
datacom networking technologies. The transmissionWDM (wavelength division multiplexing) technology to
speed ranges from 10Mbits up to 10Gbit/s andseparate the transmission and receiving signals.
growing.Gigabit Ethernet
High distance-bandwidth product is the major sellingBy the end of 1990s and early 2000s, most 100Mbit
point for fiber optic transceivers. Another majors Fast Ethernet installation base have been upgraded
benefit of fiber optic systems is their high reliabilityto 1000Mbit/s Gigabit Ethernet. In the same process,
compared to other media.fiber is increasingly the transmission medium of choice
Now fiber optic transceivers are commerciallywhen copper reaches its fundamental limits for high
available for almost all international and industrialspeed transmission.
standards, including Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, GigabitFor fiber optic transceivers, the related industry
Ethernet, 10Gbit Ethernet.standards include 1000Base-SX, 1000Base-LX,
So let's review the the bunch of industry standards1000Base-LH, 1000Base-BX10 and 1000Base-ZX.
and inspect the various applications that fiber optic1000Base-SX uses 850nm multimode light over
transceivers provide.multimode fibers. Its spec says the maximum
There are two classifications for optical fiber:operation length is 500 meters but usually it can
single-mode (SMF) and multi-mode (MMF). SMF is usedreach much longer than that.
for long distance communication and MMF is used for1000Base-LX uses 1300 or 1310nm single mode fiber
distances of less than 300 m. SMF has a narrowerand laser. Its specification says the maximum
core (6.3 µm) which makes it difficult tooperation length is 5km. But manufacturers often
connect. MMF has a wider core (50 or 62.5 µm)guarantee over 10km working length.
and is more expensive than SMF.1000Base-LH is not a standard but accepted by the
Ethernetindustry. It is backward compatible with 1000Base-LX
Ethernet is the result of research done at Xeroxbut its specification is 10km over single mode fiber.
Corporation in the early 1970s. It has evolved intoThis is actually achieved by using high quality fiber
the most popular physical and link layer protocoloptic components.
today. Up until late 1980s, 10Mbit/s Ethernet had the1000Base-BX10 operates over a single strand of
largest installed base and was the most popularsingle mode fiber. Similar to 100Base-BX, this is
networking standard.achieved by using WDM technology. Its specification
Fast Ethernetis 10km.
By the mide of 1990s, all 10Mbit/s Ethernet installation1000Base-ZX is also not a industry standard by
base have been upgraded to 100Mbit/s Fastaccepted by the industry. It uses 1550nm single
Ethernet. The fiber standards for Fast Ethernetmode fiber and laser to operate over 70km.
includes 100Base-FX, 100Base-SX and 100Base-BX.10Gbit Ethernet
100Base-FX uses a 1300nm multimode light. The10Gbit Ethernet is also called 10GigE. This was first
maximum length is 2 kilometers for full duplex overpublished in 2002 and is still the fastest Ethernet
multimode optical fiber.standard, although 100Gbit Ethernet is under
100Base-SX is the lower cost alternative todevelopment. The standard includes 10GBase-SR,
100Base-FX. It uses 850nm light and can only operate10GBase-LR, 10GBase-LRM, 10GBase-ER, 10GBase-ZR
at distance up to 300 meters.and 10GBase-LX.
100Base-BX is version of Fast Ethernet over a single