Corning Cable Systems’ new Pretium Edge AO (Advanced Optics) Solutions is a set of components meant to be used with the existing Pretium Edge platform to enable data centers to efficiently migrate their cabling infrastructure from 10G to 40G and 100G speeds, maximizing the use of the fibers in parallel optics systems in the process.
AO Solutions components include conversion models and harnesses “that allow networks to fully utilize base-12 fiber count trunks when migrating to 40G,” the company explains, “which uses base-8 fiber counts—four fibers transmitting at 10G in each direction. Without this conversion, data centers running 40G parallel optics on their existing fiber backbone only use 66 percent of the installed fiber.”
The company further explains the practical implementation of its new AO Solutions: “Use your existing Pretium Edge infrastructure and, when it’s time, swap out today’s modules and harnesses for the advanced optical components of the Pretium Edge AO Solutions. Leave your existing hardware and trunk cables in place.” It says users who do so get “waste-free links—the highest possible fiber utilization at 40 and 100G,” as well as “fully managed link polarity and the ability for on-site changes.”
The Pretium Edge AO Conversion Module (pictured below) is the core component of the AO Solutions set. The module “has 12-fiber MTP adapters in the rear for mating to backbone trunks and breaks out to 8-fiber MTPs in the front for connectivity to electronics,” Corning Cable Systems says. It then explains, “This is the ‘conversion’ that makes Pretium Edge AO Solutions so efficient. Transmission at 40G is based on eight fibers in the link—four transmitting at 10G in each direction. The anticipated 100GBase-SR4 standard will also utilize eight fibers, at 4x25 in each direction. In a simple pass-through connection scheme, this means only eight of the fibers in a standard base-12 network trunk are used. The conversion module fully utilizes all fibers in each base-12 set by breaking out base-12 MTPs at the rear of the module into base-8 MTPs at the front, which then use high-bandwidth 8-fiber MTP assemblies to connect to electronics.”
The conversion modules are available in two configurations: 2x3 (two 12-fiber MTP adapters in the rear and three 8-fiber MTP adapters in the front), and 4x6 (four 12-fiber adapters in the back and six 8-fiber adapters in the front).
As part of the system release, Corning Cable Systems also is introducing a port tap module for network monitoring of Ethernet 40GBase-SR multimode fiber parallel optical circuits. “This passive tap device integrates directly into the Pretium Edge Solutions infrastructure, and its all-MTP footprint enables seamless migration with 40G electronics … Corning’s integrated approach allows monitored ports to be added or removed without disruption to the live network link and creates a ‘zero-U’ footprint that improves rack utilization.”