Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Recent years, telecom industry develops rapidly. Data center, as the central nervous system of the whole network building, becomes larger and larger in size, with more and more complicated cabling system. To make cabling easy and ensure network performance at the same time, a type of cable characterized by light weight and high transmission rate is needed. Fiber optic cable is such type of cable. In addition, optical fiber cable can be divided into different types, such as singlemode fiber, multimode fiber, simplex cable, duplex cable and so on. This article will focus on multimode fiber price comparison and I hope it can help you choose cost-effective multimode fiber cabling solution.

Singlemode and Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

We know that singlemode fiber cable is used for long-haul optical link, while multimode fiber cable is suitable for short-reach network. In fact, singlemode systems are usually, but not always more expensive because of the laser diodes and precise calibration required to inject light into the cable. The result of singlemode and multimode fiber price comparison is negligible, but singlemode devices often cost more.

Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Now on the market, there are five types of multimode fiber jumpers: OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OM5. In addition, multimode fiber cable varies from each other depending on fiber count, connector type, jacket material and so on. This part will make comparison from different levels. Firstly, let’s take FS.COM multimode fiber for example.

OM1 Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Materialv	Price
OM1	5 m	LC to LC	Simplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 1.80
OM1	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 3.50
OM1	5 m	SC to SC	Simplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 1.80
OM1	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 3.50

OM2 Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Material	Price
OM2	5 m	LC to LC	Simplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 1.72
OM2	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 3.50
OM2	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 3.70
OM2	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 3.50
OM2	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 3.70

OM3 Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Material	Price
OM3	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 4.00
OM3	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 4.20
OM3	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	OFNP	US$ 5.40
OM3	5 m	SC to SC	Simplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 2.00
OM3	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 4.00
OM3	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 4.20
OM3	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	OFNP	US$ 5.40

OM4 Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Material	Price
OM4	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 5.20
OM4	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 5.40
OM4	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	OFNP	US$ 6.60
OM4	5 m	SC to SC	Simplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 2.60
OM4	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 5.20
OM4	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 5.40
OM4	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	OFNP	US$ 6.60

OM5 Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Material	Price
OM5	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 15.00
OM5	5 m	LC to LC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 15.00
OM5	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	PVC(OFNR)	US$ 15.00
OM5	5 m	SC to SC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 15.00

Different Brands Multimode Fiber Price Comparison

Brand	Type	Cable Length	Connector Type	Fiber Count	Jacket Material	Price
Amazon	OM3	10 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC	US$ 36.86
Newegg	OM3	10 m	LC to LC	Duplex	LSZH	US$ 20.32
C2G	OM3	10 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC	US$ 40.99
Monoprice	OM3	10 m	LC to LC	Duplex	OFNR	US$ 18.55
FS.COM	OM3	10 m	LC to LC	Duplex	PVC	US$ 5.70

It’s not difficult to find that multimode patch cord price has three grades: OM1 fiber and OM2 fiber, OM3 fiber cable and OM4 fiber cable, OM5 fiber. In addition, duplex multimode patch cable is more expensive than simplex multimode patch cable. As for the comparison among different brands, FS.COM is a great option.

Conclusion

From the above multimode fiber price comparison, we can conclude that multimode fiber cable is a cost-effective cabling solution for network connection over short distance. But before you buy multimode patch cable, you have to make sure which type, connector type or jacket material is suitable for your network building, then choose a cheap one to save cost.

XFP Transceiver Module

In fiber optic networking, there exists such a kind of optical component, small in size but plays an important role. It is fiber optic transceiver module. The telecom industry develops rapidly and in order to meet different requirements of network deployment, there are various types of fiber optic transceivers on the market. This article will introduce XFP transceiver module.

Overview of XFP Transceiver Module

XFP is short for 10 Gigabit small form factor pluggable. It is a high speed transceivers for optical link. XFP transceivers are protocol-independent and fully compliant to the following standards: 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, synchronous optical networking (SONET) at OC-192 rates, synchronous optical networking STM-64, 10 Gbit/s Optical Transport Network (OTN) OTU-2, and parallel optics links.

Construction of XFP Transceiver Module

The XFP transceiver module consists of six parts: transmit optical bore, receive optical bore, transceiver socket connector, bail clasp (locked position), dust plug, bail clasp (unlocked position). The interface of XFP modules is called XFI. The XFI electrical interface specification was a 10 gigabit per second chip-to-chip electrical interface specification defined as part of the XFP multi-source agreement. It was also developed by the XFP MSA group. XFI provides a single lane running at 10.3125 Gbit/s when using a 64B/66B encoding scheme. A serializer/deserializer is often used to convert from a wider interface such as XAUI that has four lanes running at 3.125 Gbit/s using 8B/10B encoding. XFI is sometimes pronounced as “X” “F” “I” and other times as “ziffie”. Here is a figure of XFP module for you.

Types of XFP Transceiver Module

XFP modules comply with the XFP multi source agreement developed by several leading companies in this industry. And there are several types of XFP transceiver modules.

10G XFP SR Transceiver Module

10G XFP SR transceiver utilizes 850 nm wavelength to transmit optical signal. It works with multimode fiber optic cable with LC duplex interface. During the optical link, it can support 10G data rate with transmission distance up to 300 meters.

10G XFP LR Transceiver Module

10G XFP LR transceiver module is used for long distance optical link. It utilizes 1310 nm wavelength and it works with singlemode fiber optic cable with LC duplex interface. It can achieve transmission distance up to 10 kilometers, with maximum data rate of 10G.

10G XFP ER Transceiver Module

10G XFP ER transceiver module works with singlemode fiber optic cable with LC connector. It supports 10G speed with link length up to 40 kilometers. The wavelength of ER XFP transceiver is 1550 nm.

10G XFP ZR Transceiver Module

10G XFP ZR module can achieve 10G data rate at wavelength of 1550 nm. It is used with LC duplex singlemode fiber optic cable. The transmission distance of ZR XFP modules is 80 kilometers.

In addition, there are some other types of XFP modules available on the market, such as CWDM XFP transceiver, DWDM XFP module, BiDi XFP transceiver module and XFP tunable transceiver.

Conclusion

10G transceiver modules are popular with many networking engineers. XFP transceiver module is regarded to be the new generation 10G solution after the Xenpak and X2 transceivers. I hope this article can help you have a better understanding of XFP transceiver module.

Different Types of Switches in Networking

For networking builders, network switch is an essential component in their networking building plan. In a network deployment, switch channels incoming data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take the data toward its intended destination. Besides, to achieve high performance level, there are different types of switches in networking. This article will introduce different types of switches in networking to help you choose a suitable one for your networking.

LAN Switch

Local area network switches or LAN switches are usually used to connect points on a company's internal LAN. It is also known as a data switch or an Ethernet switch. It blocks the overlap of data packets running through a network by the economical allocation of bandwidth. The LAN switch delivers the transmitted data packet before directing it to its planned receiver. These types of switches reduce network congestion or bottlenecks by distributing a package of data only to its intended recipient.

Unmanaged Switch

Unmanaged network switches are frequently used in home networks, small companies and businesses. It permits devices on the network to connect with each other, such as computer to computer or printer to computer in one location. An unmanaged switch does not necessarily need to be configured or watched. It is simple and easy to set up. If you want to add more Ethernet ports, you can use these plug and play types of switches in networking.

Managed Switch

Compared to unmanaged switches, the advantage of managed switches is that they can be customized to enhance the functionality of a certain network. They offer some features like QoS (Quality of Service), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and so on. These types of switches in networking can support a range of advanced features designed to be controlled by a professional administrator. In addition, there is smart switch, a type of managed switch. It has some features that managed switch has, but are more limited. Smart network switch is usually used for the networking devices such as VLANs.

PoE Switch

PoE Gigabit Ethernet switch is a network switch that utilizes Power over Ethernet technology. When connected with multiple other network devices, PoE switches can support power and data transmission over one network cable at the same time. This greatly simplifies the cabling process. These types of switches in networking provide greater flexibility and you will never have to worry about power outlet when deploying network devices.

Stackable Switch

Stackable switches provide a way to simplify and increase the availability of the network. For example, instead of configuring, managing, and troubleshooting eight 48-port switches individually, you can manage all eight like a single unit using a stackable Switches. With a true stackable switch, those eight switches (total 384 ports) function as a single switch—there is a single SNMP/RMON agent, single Spanning Tree domain, single CLI or Web interface. There are valuable operational advantages to use these types of switches in networking, such as you can create link aggregation groups spanning across multiple units in the stack, port mirror traffic from one unit in the stack to another, or setup ACLs/QoS spanning all the units.

Conclusion

This article briefly introduces five types of switches in networking: LAN switch, unmanaged switch, managed switch, PoE switch and stackable switch. All of them have their own characteristics and are used in different network deployment. I hope you can have a better understanding on them after reading the article.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendations

As long as there is network deployment, gigabit switch is always the hot spot. According to different standards, ethernet switches have various types, such as 1 gigabit switch, 10 gigabit switch, 40 gigabit switch and 100g ethernet switch. Also, there are network switches classified by port number, such as 8 port, 24 port and 48 port. This article will recommend several 48 port Gigabit switches for you.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 1—Dell PowerConnect 5548 Switch

Dell PowerConnect 5548 switch has 48 auto-sensing Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching ports and it provides exceptional performance through a switch fabric capacity of 176 Gbps, 2 HDMI stacking sorts with 10Gb per port for 40Gb total per switch, and a forwarding rate of 100.2 Mpps. In addition, Dell PowerConnect 5548 switch offers wire-speed performance that can grow alongside your evolving business needs. The price is about $495.00.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 2—Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi Switch

Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch is designed with 48 Gigabit RJ45 ports, 2 SFP ports and 2 SFP+ ports. For its total, non—blocking throughput, Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch supports up to 70 Gbps. And it can offer 140 Gbps forwarding capacity to simultaneously process traffic on all ports at line rate without any packet loss. Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch is a fully managed switch, delivering robust performance and intelligent switching for your growing networks. The price is about $397.53.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 3—TP-Link TL-SG1048 Switch

TP-Link TL-SG1048 switch is designed to meet the needs of the most demanding workgroup and departmental connectivity requirements. It provides 48 10/100/1000Mbps ports. Besides, it combines ease of use with unsurpassed performance resulting in an exceptional value for any cost-conscious network administrator who wants the best possible solution at the best possible price $271.99. TP-Link TL-SG1048 switch is a reliable, easy-to-use switch without the complexity of management.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 4—FS S1600-48T4S Switch

FS S1600-48T4S switch is a PoE switch comes with 48 10/100/1000Base-T RJ45 Ethernet ports, 1 console port, 4 SFP+ slots. It offers enterprise-class features, high-performance of both hardware and software , stable and reliable fast Ring Protection Protocol(RSTP), free configuration, strong network security, convenient management and maintenance. This 48 port switch price is about $689.00.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 5—Quanta LB4M Switch

Quanta LB4M switch offers 48 Gbit ports and 2 SFP+ ports that makes it stackable and suitable to scenarios that require a strong scalability. These ports can function in 10 GBE switching mode, or in HiGig+ Uplink mode. It is a Layer 2 and Layer 3 switch with IPv6 and clustering features. The price of Quanta LB4M switch is about $225.00.

Conclusion

High density port switch is popular with small business data center. And 48 port gigabit switch is a heat topic. This article recommends five cheap 48 port switches for you and I hope it can help you make a choice for your network deployment.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port on Switch

When it comes to network switch, we usually ask about the port type on the switch and the number of port, such as twenty-four 10/100/1000 Mbps ports and four SFP+ ports. If you have used managed switch in your network deployment, you must have heard about uplink port or normal port. How much do you know about them? Is there any difference between them? This article will guide you to learn about uplink port vs. normal port on switch.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Devices

The uplink port on switch is used to connect a device or smaller local network to a larger network, or connect to the next "higher" device in the topology. For example, edge switch connects "up" to distribution layer managed switch. Also in computer network, hub, unmanaged switch and router typically designate one Ethernet port as the uplink port. And it may be labeled WAN or Internet instead of uplink. This type of port simplify connects different types of Ethernet devices to each other, such as when linking a local home network to a modem and the Internet. While normal port on switch is used to connect end user PC or server and all. In most cases, uplink ports have more bandwidth as compared to normal ports as they aggregate traffic between different layers.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Cables

Each Ethernet interface has two transmit pins and two receive pins. To achieve the link connection, the transmit pins at one end of network cable have to be connected to the receive pins at the other end. An uplink port does not crossover the transmit and receive pins, but a regular port does. Therefore, when two network switches are connected together with a straight-through cable, then one end must be uplink port and one end must be normal port. If a crossover cable is used to connect them, then the ports at both ends must be the same kind of port. Here is a figure for you to have a better understanding of this.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Additional Information about Shared Port and Dual-purposed Port

Some older network equipment specially configured a normal port next to the uplink port and linked the two together as a pair. Specifically, the hardware logic of these products supported connections to either the uplink port, or the normal shared port, but not both. Connecting devices to both ports of a shared port device stops the unit from functioning properly. Nowadays, many network equipment offer a dual-purpose port which can function either as an uplink or a normal port depending on the type of device connected to it.

Conclusion

In fact, uplink port can serve as normal port. Therefore, there are no big differences between them. The only difference is that uplink port is connected to higher layer network device to aggregate the bandwidth and must be connected to the normal port on another network device. I hope after reading this article, you can be clear on uplink port vs. normal port on switch.