LATEST INTELLIGENCE
THE FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN OM5 AND OM4+ FIBRE
P
ressure continues to build for data
centre operators to migrate to
faster applications and longer link
distances. In response, infrastructure OEMs
and industry standards bodies are working
overtime, developing the necessary link
components and performance guidelines.
Typically, the introduction of a new
technology involves engineering and testing,
which leads to initial market interest and
standards development. Having standards
in place prior to wide-scale deployment
is preferred as it ensures aspects such as
performance specifications and application
support are clearly articulated using industry-
accepted standards - but this is not always
the case.
In 2016, the industry recognised and
standardised wideband OM5 multimode
fibre (MMF) and is now deploying it to
enable improved support for applications
involving multiple wavelengths. Some,
however, now claim that proprietary
variations of OM4 (so-called OM4+) are
roughly equivalent to OM5 in supporting
technologies like BiDi and SWDM4.
They argue that OM4+ can support
existing 850 nm applications over longer
distances than OM4 or OM5. These
assertions are based on a purportedly
higher calculated effective modal
bandwidth (EMBc) or the purported effects
of chromatic dispersion compensation. n
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