The fundamental element on which the PreCONNECT® SEDECIM solution is based is the 16-fiber MTP®/MPO connector, which is also the Media Dependent Interface (MDI) of the 400GBASE-SR8 transceivers. It is characterized by having 16 multimode OM4 fibers arranged in a row, allowing the transfer of 400 Gb/s data through eight parallel 50 Gb/s full-duplex transmission channels, each with PAM4 encoding (8x50G=400G) at a range of up to 100 meters.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of the move to the cloud in order to provide services to remote workers and students, among others. To achieve this, companies and public administrations are increasingly dependent on data centers, which must become ever more powerful. Likewise, in Spain, for Madrid to become the Digital Hub of Southern Europe, high-performance data centers are a crucial element,” comments Manuel Leardy, Head of Sales for Data Centers in Spain and Portugal at Rosenberger OSI.
8° APC angular polishing: Already tested in single-mode applicationsIn developing the PreCONNECT® SEDECIM, optimized for 400GBASE-SR8, Rosenberger OSI is using a technology that has already proven its effectiveness in single-mode applications. The 8° APC angled polish has been used on the ferrules of single-mode MTP®/MPO connectors to achieve reliable return loss. In contrast, only the 0° PC straight polish was used on multi-mode MTP®/MPO ferrules.
Due to their straight-polished design, multimode MTP®/MPO connectors are prone to performance issues caused by dirt particles, which can lead to low return loss values. In recent years, this problem has worsened due to the sharp increase in application data rates and has become particularly relevant with the introduction of reflection-sensitive PAM4 encoding in 400GBASE-SR8 and other multimode applications with 50 Gb/s lane speeds.
Rosenberger OSI's research led to innovation
"When 400GBASE-SR8 was introduced at one of the world's largest hyperscale networks in 2019, these problems were so severe that the results of research on 8° APC angle polishing of multimode MTP®/MPO ferrules, which Rosenberger OSI had already developed in 2012, were used. Measurements showed that multimode MTP®/MPO connectors with 8° APC angle polishing, unlike those with 0° straight PC polishing, resulted in significantly higher return losses. Therefore, the hyperscale network, in close collaboration with USCONEC, the inventor of the MTP® connector, decided to specify 8° APC polishing for the ferrules of the 16-fiber MTP®/MPO multimode connector. This decision affected not only the cabling infrastructure but also the Media Dependent Interface (MDI) of the 400GBASE-SR8 transceiver. There was also no discussion on this matter regarding our “The research results speak for themselves,” says Jungbäck. Thus, the 400GBASE-SR8 transceivers can feature either a 16-fiber MTP®/MPO connector with a 0° PC polish or a 16-fiber MTP®/MPO connector with an 8° APC angle polish. The distinguishing feature of the innovative 16-fiber-in-row MTP®/MPO multimode connector system with an 8° APC angle polish is a white anti-kink boot on the black connector.
Highly modular 19" panel systems for data centers
Rosenberger OSI has already expanded three of its 19" PreCONNECT® panel systems to accommodate PreCONNECT® SEDECIM:
• PreCONNECT® SMAP-G2 High Density
• PreCONNECT® SMAP-G2 Ultra High Density
• PreCONNECT® Data Center Panel
Depending on the requirements demanded by the data center operator, the 19" panel offering focuses on maximum space savings by applying a higher port density or on high service capacity using easy-to-operate sliding trays.
