OM4 Fiber – The Next

Generation of Multimode

Tony Irujo – Sales Engineer

OFS

Slide 1
 Fiber Optics LAN Section

•! Part of the Telecommunications Industry

Association (www.tiaonline.org)
•! Formed 16 years ago
•! Mission: to educate users about the benefits of
deploying fiber in customer-owned networks
•! FOLS provides vendor-neutral information

Slide 2
 Fiber Optics LAN Section
•! Current Members
–! Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company,
–! Corning Optical Fiber
–! CommScope
–! Draka Communications
–! Fluke Networks
–! OFS
–! Ortronics
–! Sumitomo Electric Lightwave
–! Tyco Electronics
Slide 3
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 4
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 5
 Ethernet Switch Market
Dell’Oro Group Report (Aug 2009):
“Total Ethernet Switch market to rebound in 2010.”

•! Drivers:
–! 10 GbE
–! Data Centers
–! Cisco’s move into server market
–! HP’s expansion of Data Center portfolio
–! IBM’s entrance into Ethernet Switch market

“Ethernet switch market to begin rebounding in 2010”. Lightwave Aug 4, 2009,

with reference to report by Dell’Oro Group telecom market research firm.

Slide 6
 Datacom Transceiver Market
CIR Report (July 2009):
By 2014 –
- Datacom Tx market will grow 50% to $6.5B
- 10GbE market will reach $1.4B
- Fibre Channel market will reach $1.7B

•! Drivers / Notes:
–! Processor speeds catching up with networking power of 10GbE.
–! 10GbE-equipped PC’s expected in a few years.
–! IEEE’s 10GBASE-SR fiber standard well suited for data centers, will remain dominant.
–! IEEE’s 10GBASE-T copper standard hindered due to its huge power consumption.
–! Regulatory environment driving FC in SANs,

“Datacom transceiver market to grow 50% by 2014”. Lightwave Jul 22, 2009,
with reference to report by CIR market research firm.
Slide 7
 Storage Growth

“Getting a Grip on Storage Growth – How leading companies are reducing storage costs
and improving management efficiency with intelligent file virtualization”
Richard Villars, Vice President, Storage Systems, IDC
Nigel Burmeister, Director Product Marketing, Acopia Networks

Slide 8
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 9
 Two Basic Optical Fiber Types

1. Multimode 2. Single-mode
62.5 micron 50 micron ~8 micron

125 micron

850 nm Operating 1310 - 1625 nm

& 1300 nm Wavelengths

Larger cores and lower wavelengths

drive source and system costs down
Slide 10
 Multimode Fiber
•! Light Signal (pulse) travels along many modes, or paths.
•! Pulse spreading occurs due to Modal Dispersion,
or DMD (Differential Mode Delay)
•! Pulse spreading limits Bandwidth (transmission carrying capacity)

Input Pulse Output Pulse

1 0 1 0 1 1 ? ? ? ?
Excessive Pulse Spreading =
Intersymbol Interference (ISI) =
Slide 11 Bit Errors
 Pulses of Light Traveling Through
Multimode Optical Fiber

10 !Gb/s! 10 !Gb/s!
Bit Period! Bit Period!

Fiber
Core!

Excessive Minimal
Modal Dispersion Modal Dispersion

Slide 12
 Multimode Fiber
•! Has large Numerical Aperture (NA), or cone of acceptance of light.
•! Light entering outside of cone escapes out of core.
•! Large NA allows for easier, less precise transmitter & connector
alignment.
•! Lowers cost of transmitter, connectors, and installation.

NA – Cone of
Acceptance of Light

!"

NA = 0.275 for 62.5 um

NA = 0.200 for 50 um
Slide 13
 Singlemode Fiber
Small core guides only one mode
•! Eliminates modal dispersion.
•! Takes advantage of lower attenuation at longer wavelengths (1310 &
1550 nm).
•! Enables tremendous transmission capacity over very long distances.

Slide 14
 Singlemode Fiber
Small NA
•! Requires precise alignment of transmitter & connectors;
drives up cost of components, installation.

NA ~ 0.1 for SM

Slide 15
 Multimode or Singlemode?

Slide 16
 Multimode Fiber

•! Light Signal (pulse) travels along many modes, or paths.

•! Pulse spreading occurs due to Modal Dispersion,
or DMD (Differential Mode Delay)
•! Pulse spreading limits Bandwidth (transmission carrying capacity)

Input Pulse Output Pulse

Slide 17
 Refractive Index Profile in MMF
Cladding

Core

An optimized Refractive
Index Profile minimizes
DMD and maximizes
Bandwidth
n!
Refractive Equalizes arrival times
Index Profile of all the modes

(Graded Index)
n = c/vg!
a! r!
Slide 18
 LEDs vs. Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers

!! Overfills core (large spot size)

!! Excites all modes.
!! Bandwidth performance
dependant on all modes.
!! Uniform, consistent power
profile. Repeatable.

Encircled Power 3D Power map

!! Underfills core (small spot size)

!! Excites fewer modes
!! Bandwidth dependant on which
modes happen to carry power.
!! Non-uniform, fluctuating, non-
repeatable power profile.

Slide 19
 LEDs vs. VCSELs
LED VCSEL 1 VCSEL 2 VCSEL 3
All Modes

Slide 20
 Different VCSELs give Different
Bandwidth, even on the same fiber
VCSEL A

Output Pulse
Same Fiber
VCSEL B

Output Pulse

Slide 21
 DMD Measurement Provides a Means to
Assess Bandwidth for Specific Modes
(per TIA FOTP-220 or IEC 60793-1-49)

DMD Scanning Process DMD Scan Example

High DMD!
Speed
Detector
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM
SM
SM
SM
850
850
850
850
nm
nm
nm
nm
Laser
Laser
Laser
Laser
Core!
SM 850 nm Laser
SM
SM 850
850 nm
nm Laser
Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM 850 nm Laser
SM
SM 850 nm Laser
850 nm Laser

DMD = Difference in delay between

the earliest and latest arriving pulses
Slide 22
 DMD Specifications - Mask Method
(TIA-492AAAC or IEC 60793-2-10)
Radius
DMD Scan Example (um)

DMD Templates 23
!! Each template has Inner and Outer Mask
!! Fiber must meet at least one template
!! Inner mask floats temporally in outer mask 18

Sliding
mask
Sliding
Sliding Mask

mask
Sliding
mask
Sliding
Mask
Sliding
mask
!! “Smooth” DMD in critical 7-19 um region

Sliding
mask
Sliding
mask
!! DMD < 0.25 ps/m over any 6 um window

5
Templates 1
2 0
3
4
5
6 This fiber meets templates 3, 4, and 5 and
meets the sliding mask specification
Slide 23
 DMD Mask to Encircled Flux Correspondence
!! Tight inner mask matches region carrying bulk of power

Industry Standard
DMD Specs 50 um
23 Fiber
18 Core
Outer Mask Bulk
Inner Mask of
Power
5
Radial 4.5
Position 0
(!m)
-5

19

-18

-23
Slide 24
DMD
 Effective Modal Bandwidth Calculated
(EMBc)
(TIA-492AAAC, IEC 60793-2-10)

Calculated based on DMD

!! DMD of fiber measured per TIA FOTP-220 or IEC 60793-1-49

!! Calculated from interaction of the DMD with 10 simulated VCSELs

(weighting functions)

!! 10 VCSELs meant to represent a broad range of compliant VCSEL

specifications

!! The lowest of the 10 bandwidths is EMBc

Slide 25
 Multimode Fiber Types

Slide 26
 Multimode Fiber Types,
Performance Grades

OFL BW = Overfilled Launch

Bandwidth

EMB = Effective Modal

Bandwidth
(also known as “Laser” BW)

EMB met by meeting:

a)! DMD specifications, or
b)! EMBc
as outlined in TIA-492AAAC

OM1, OM2, OM3 = ISO/IEC 11801 designations

Slide 27
 Multimode Fiber Types,
Performance Grades
Reach & Bandwidth by MM Fiber Type!
!
Reach (at 10 Gb/s) Bandwidth (at 850nm) !
! !

Bandwidth!
600 5000

!
!

(MHz-km, at 850nm)
(meters, at 10 Gb/s)

500! 4000!
Reach!

400!
3000!
300!
2000!
200!
100! 1000!

0! 0!
62.5 um! 50 um! 50 um! 50 um!
OM1 ! OM2 ! OM3 ! OM4 !
Fiber Type ( ISO Grade )!

Slide 28
 Multimode Link Distance Support
10, 40, & 100
Gb/s 62.5 um Std 50 um LO 50 um LO 50 um SM
Wavelength
Transceiver (OM1) (OM2) (OM3) (OM4) (OS1)
Designation
10GBase-SR 850 nm
(10 Gb/s)
33 82 300 550 NA
Serial VCSEL
10GBase-LX4 1300 nm 1 1
300 300 300 300 10,000
(10 Gb/s) CWDM Laser
10GBase-LRM 1300 nm serial 1 1
220 220 220 220 NA
(10 Gb/s) Laser/EDC
40GBase-SR4 850 nm
(draft) Parallel VCSEL NA NA 100 125 NA
(40 Gb/s) Array
100GBase-SR10 850 nm
(draft) Parallel VCSEL NA NA 100 125 NA
(100Gb/s) Array
1Mode Conditioning Patch-cords required

Slide 29
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 30
 OM4 vs. OM3

DMD Plots
Slide 31
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 32
 OM4 Standardization

•! TIA (TR42.12) recommended publication at Aug meeting.

–! TIA-492AAAD
–! Availability for purchase in late 2009 / early 2010

•! IEC (SC86A WG1) to follow in mid-2010.

–! IEC 60793-2-10, Fiber Type A1a.3
General agreement to harmonize with TIA-492AAAD

Slide 33
 OM4 Specifications

•! Effective Modal Bandwidth (EMB) >/= 4700 MHz-km

–! Allows 2 methods for verification– DMD Masks or EMBc

•! OFL Bandwidth at 850nm >/= 3500 MHz-km

–! Ensures performance with sources that launch more power into
outer modes

•! OFL Bandwidth at 1300nm >/= 500 MHz-km

–! Ensures backward compatibility with OM1, OM2, OM3 fibers for
applications such as FDDI, 100BASE-FX, 1000BASE-LX, etc.

Slide 34
 Outline

•! Market Drivers
•! Optical Fiber Overview
•! OM4 Fiber – What is it?
•! OM4 Fiber Standards & Specifications
•! OM4’s role for 40G & 100G Ethernet

Slide 35
 Server Level Data Rates Growing

Robert Hays, Intel & Howard Frasier, Broadcom

“40G Ethernet Market Potential”, IEEE 802.3 HSSG, April 2007
Hays_01_0407

•! Virtualization, traffic aggregation driving need for higher speeds

Slide 36
 IEEE802.3ba
40 Gb/s Ethernet Reach Objectives

Servers, Access, SANs, HPC

–! 10 km over single-mode fiber (1310 nm) 40GBASE-LR4

–! 125 m over OM4 multimode fiber (850 nm) 40GBASE-SR4
–! 100 m over OM3 multimode fiber (850 nm) 40GBASE-SR4
–! 7 m over copper 40GBASE-CR4
–! 1 m over backplane 40GBASE-KR4

Slide 37
 IEEE802.3ba
40 Gb/s Ethernet Reach Objectives

Switching, Routing, Aggregation

–! 40 km over single-mode fiber (1310 nm) 100GBASE-ER4

–! 10 Km over single-mode fiber (1310 nm) 100GBASE-LR4
–! 125 m over OM4 multimode fiber (850 nm) 100GBASE-SR10
–! 100 m over OM3 multimode fiber (850 nm) 100GBASE-SR10
–! 7 m over copper 100GBASE-CR10

Slide 38
 Reach Considerations

•! Reduced reach of 100m on OM3, 125m on OM4

compared to 10G (300m on OM3, 550m on OM4) is due
to relaxation of transmitter spectral width:
–! from 0.45 to 0.65 nm

There have been no changes to the fiber itself!

•! Recent addition of 125m on OM4 expected to support

95%+ of Data Center links.

Slide 39
 High Speed Short Reach Technologies:
Multiple Fiber Parallel Systems on MMF

for 40G:

•! One 12-fiber cable

–! duplex link
–! 8 active fibers
•! 4 x 10 Gb/s
•! 12 Fiber MPO connector
•! One wavelength per fiber

Slide 40
 High Speed Short Reach Technologies:
Multiple Fiber Parallel Systems on MMF
for 100G:

•! Two 12 Fiber Cables, or

24 fiber Cable
–! 20 Active
–! Duplex link
•! 10 x 10 Gb/s
•! MPO connector
–! 2 x 12 fiber
–! 1 x 24 fiber
•! One wavelength per fiber

Slide 41
 High Speed Long Reach Technologies:
Wavelength Division Multiplexing on SMF

4 Different 4 Detectors
Lasers
Combiner Splitter

Cladding
For 100G
•! 2 Fiber Cable
•! Multiple Lasers and Detectors
•! 4 x 25 Gb/s
Slide 42
 Cost Comparison between Single-
mode and Multimode Fiber Systems

Traditionally, optoelectronics have driven the cost

difference between single-mode and multimode

•! Single-mode CWDM system

–! Pro: Lower cable cost
–! Con: Significantly higher transceiver cost

•! OM3 and OM4 multimode parallel systems

–! Pro: Much lower transceiver cost using existing 10Gb/s VCSELS
–! Con: Higher cabling cost

Slide 43
 Cost Comparison between Single-mode
and Multimode Fiber - 40G Systems

> 3x

Paul Kolesar
CommScope
“The Case for Extended Reach
Multimode Objectives”
IEEE 802.3ba
September 2008
Kolesar_01_0908

•! Single-mode cabling costs less than multimode,

but total link cost over 3x higher!
Slide 44
 Cost Comparison between Single-mode
and Multimode Fiber - 100G Systems

> 10x !

Paul Kolesar
CommScope
“The Case for Extended Reach
Multimode Objectives”
IEEE 802.3ba
September 2008
Kolesar_01_0908

•! Cabling costs insignificant compared to optoelectronics

–! Single-mode total cost over 10x multimode system!
Slide 45
 Power Consumption
•! Lower power consumption critical as link density
and speed increase
–! 10G SFP Fiber transceivers consume <1 watt
–! 10GBASE-T copper transceivers can consume
10 watts or more.

•! Savings ~ 9 watts/transceiver
•! Cooling – another 9 watts/transceiver

Slide 46
 Thank you… !

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"! Wealth of information about fiber optics.
"! Download free Cost Model to evaluate costs of several
standards-based architectures using fiber and copper cabling.

Slide 47