"OM" stand for optical multi-mode, i.e. optical mode, is the standard of multi-mode optical fibre to indicate the grade of optical fibre. Different levels of transmission bandwidth and maximum distance is different, so the use of different scenarios, choose the right fiber optic patch cord is conducive to cost savings, improve efficiency, the next to tell you how to correctly distinguish and select the OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord.
First, what is OM3, OM4 fibre optic patch cord
Fiber optic patch cord (also known as fiber optic connector) refers to fiber optic cables are fitted with connector plugs at both ends, used to achieve the optical path of the active connection, in addition to the mentioned pigtail is only one end of the optical fiber fitted with a connector plug. om3 and om4 are the standards that indicate the grade of multimode optical fiber, so the om4 fiber optic patch cord is om3 fiber optic patch cord a development direction of a more optimal state.
Second, the difference between OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord
1, OM3 fibre optic patch cord and OM4 fibre optic patch cord appearance comparison
OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord in the structure is not very different, OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord are laser optimized 50μm core diameter, 125μm cladding diameter, gradient refractive index distribution of multimode fiber. Laser-optimised OM3 and OM4 multimode fibres have the same colour, which is aqua blue. But in Europe and some U.S. companies have proposed a new OM4 fiber optic patch cord colour, namely violet.
2, OM3 optical fibre patch cord and OM4 optical fibre patch cord transmission performance comparison
OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord internal material is also the core structure has obvious differences, this difference determines the OM3 fiber optic patch cord and OM4 fiber optic patch cord transmission performance, OM3 fibre optic patch cord in 1G, 10G, 40G/100G state of the maximum transmission distance of 1km, 300m, 100m, respectively, OM4 fiber optic patch cord in 1G, 10G, 40G/100G state of the maximum transmission distance of 1km, 300m, 100m. The maximum transmission distance under 1G, 10G, 40G/100G state is 1km, 550m, 150m respectively, because OM4 fibre optic patch cable has more than double the effective bandwidth than OM3 fibre optic patch cable, so in the same distance, OM4 fibre optic patch cable can transmit more information.
3、Price comparison between OM3 fibre optic patch cable and OM4 fibre optic patch cable
The price of OM4 fibre optic patch cable is about twice of OM3 fibre optic patch cable. The main reason is that the production cost of OM4 optical fibre is high, at the same time, due to the large production volume of OM3 optical fibre, so in the cost is much lower again. But to a large extent, the cost depends on the type of construction of the fibre. Many fibre optic products have little difference in cost, such as fibre optic patch panels and fibre optic patch cords.
If you need higher data rates or plan to upgrade your network in the near future, laser-optimised OM3 fibre patch cords or OM4 fibre patch cords would be the logical choice.OM3 fibre has had a lot of practice and in the future it can leave more wiggle room in the optical budget.OM4 fibre offers users a solution for longer distance transmission that some data centres may need.