The test equipment operated for more than six hours. This public demonstration took place at a technical seminar entitled “It's NOT the Network” at the studios of Swiss national television. The event was organized by Emitec, a networking specialist.
The multi-fiber compression connectors (MPO/MTP®) used in the test were manufactured at R&M's facility in Wetzikon, near Zurich. Over the past few months, R&M's laboratory has optimized, among other things, the surface treatment of the fiber ends and its quality control testing. R&M now controls and refines the surface finish of each fiber end in the connector to within nanometers. The demonstration, held in Zurich before an audience of experts, documented the progress achieved in these R&D activities. "We are achieving transmission quality that far exceeds the parameters defined in the standards," explains Gianfranco Di Natale, Chief Technology Officer at R&M.
R&M conducted the test in collaboration with Reflex Photonics, Inc., of Sunnyvale, California, and Xena Networks, of Copenhagen. Reflex Photonics supplied the optoelectronics necessary for optical signal transmission with its 40GBASE-SR4 transceiver module. Xena Networks provided the instrumentation necessary for the demonstration with its 100 Gigabit Ethernet test platform.
The IEEE 802.3ba Committee ratified the 40GbE (40GBASE-SR4) standard in June 2010, prescribing a transmission link with a maximum length of 150 meters that must be constructed using OM4 fiber optic cable. Within this 150-meter channel, a maximum connector loss of 1 dB is permitted. The goal is to guarantee a bit error rate of less than 10⁻¹². For its 40GbE solution, R&M defined stricter quality standards to facilitate the migration from 10 to 40/100GbE. The 550-meter distance is very common in the 10GbE (10GBASE-SR) application market and meets the requirements of numerous network operators. Until now, in the cabling industry, it was only possible to demonstrate lossless 40/100GbE transmissions over distances of 275 and 340 meters. “We’ve further improved performance by combining optimized, top-quality connectors, manufactured in-house, with bend-insensitive OM4 cables and advanced optoelectronics,” says Di Natale. Users, such as data centers or the financial industry, can now begin the transition to the 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet era without any risk, plan their networks more flexibly, and use them with complete peace of mind.
“It’s very exciting for Reflex to witness this huge increase in transmission distance,” explains Robert Coenen, vice president of sales and marketing at Reflex Photonics. “The combination of R&M’s exceptional manufacturing process quality and Reflex’s high-performance CFP paves the way for the widespread adoption of 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet in data centers.” Jacob Nielsen, general manager of Xena Networks, adds: “The 40/100 GbE market is rapidly gaining momentum, so it was fascinating to see R&M dramatically push the boundaries of the standard. Using Xena’s 40/100GbE L2-L3 test module (M1CFP100/M2CFP40), they were able to document error-free transmission over a 550-meter link with nine MPO connections. This is a compelling demonstration that confirms the extremely high manufacturing quality of their advanced cabling solutions.” Armin Diethelm, CEO of Emitec and organizer of the technical seminar, agrees, noting: “With this demonstration, R&M has clearly shown what Swiss engineering can achieve in fiber optic cabling by processing standard components with the utmost precision.” The results also offer economic advantages for users: in the future, they will be able to plan new connections, design high-capacity data networks more flexibly, and eliminate the need for several power-consuming devices.
