Siemon  has announced the comprehensive Base 8 Plug and Play System that includes an assortment of fibre enclosures, modules, adapters, assemblies and jumpers as an extension to its line of Lighthouse advanced fibre cabling solutions.

Current multimode fibre applications – 40Gbps (40GBASE-SR4) and 100Gbps (100GBASE-SR4) – are implemented for switch-to-switch links in the data centre and comprise of eight optical fibres; four fibres transmitting and four fibres receiving either 10Gbps or 25Gbps. If a 12-fibre MPO/MTP solution is being used for these eight-fibre applications, often 33% of the optical fibre goes unused. However, while conversion cords or modules are capable of using 100% of the fibre, it can often incur unneeded costs and complexity and can often result in insertion loss which restricts flexibility when implementing fibre links.

This is where Siemon’s new Base 8 Plug and Play System really shines. The system enables 100% fibre utilisation and removes the need to use conversion codes or modules whilst providing an end-to-end Base 8 fibre system that entirely supports current and future eight-fibre applications. The newly announced system includes Siemon’s High Density FCP3 fibre enclosure along with snap-in Base 8 modules that include three eight-fibre MTPs to 24 LCs to sustain 10Gbps applications as well as MTP adapter plates to allow day-one 40Gbps or 100Gbps implementation. This system also includes Base 8 MTP to MTP trunk assemblies and jumpers for backbone and equipment connections. Siemon product manager Chris Maynard made emphasis on the efficiency and simplicity of the new system.

“With current and future fibre applications all dominated by fibre counts that are divisible by two or eight fibres, including 200Gbps and 400Gbps over multimode and single-mode that are currently in development, using a Base 8 Plug and Play system offers the simplest, most efficient migration to advanced fibre speeds in the data centre. Customers can deploy Base 8 modules and LC duplex jumpers for 10Gbps today and easily replace them with adapters and MTP jumpers tomorrow, providing a seamless transition to 40Gbps or 100Gbps and beyond while maintaining maximum fibre utilisation.”

The Base 8 Plug and Play system is available in OM3/OM4 multi-mode and single-mode and features smaller diameter RazorCore fibre to considerably reduce cable diameter of assemblies and provide a 2mm diameter MTP jumper – also included is a Base 8 MTP to LC hybrid assemblies as an alternative to modules for support of 10Gbps. To complement, Base 8 MTP to LC BladePatch assembles feature the innovative push-pull latch activation of the BladePatch plug for easy access in tight fitting areas.