Fiber Ethernet Standards

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• Fiber optic cable uses infrared light signals
  • light signals not susceptible to interference or noise
  • less affected by attenutation
• 2 types:
  • single mode fiber (SMF)
  • multimode fiber (MMF)
    • categorized by optical mode designations OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4
• use different cabling types for different transmission rates

• often used for backbone cabling
• main uses:
  • increasing bandwidth for server interconnections and network backbones
    • especially in datacenters and storage area networks (SANs)
  • Replacing existing switched public data networks based on proprietary technologies with simpler Ethernet switches (Metro Ethernet)