Panduit Welcomes the OM4 Optical Fiber Inclusion into IEEE802.3ba

UPI (Unified Physical Infrastructure) solution developer, Panduit has welcomed the IEEE’s addition of OM4 fiber optic cabling into the IEEE802.3ba 40/100G Ethernet standard as a physical layer option. The company is a major contributor in the development of this Ethernet standard.

The 802.3ba group was started to devise a standard that backs up 100 and 40 G Ethernet data rates. Initially, the draft standard specified to include the OM3 optical fiber with a reach of up to 100 m. However, Panduit, after considerable research, found that the new OM4 fiber can support more number of links and stretch its reach to 150 m. Following this, the company recommended to include the OM4 fiber as a fiber option for the 40/100G Ethernet standard. Major industry players such as optical module providers and equipment manufacturers offered their support for Panduit’s OM4 fiber proposal. Then the proposal was submitted to the IEEE association and was finally approved.

The OM4 fiber offers enhanced network reliability owing to higher link margins together with improved design flexibility enabling links with a 150-m reach. The OM4 fiber delivers 60% more links in the access-to-distribution and core-to-distribution channels than the OM3 fiber. The company noted that this additional link support will accelerate the adoption of the OM4 fiber and the 40G/100G Ethernet standard.