This article will focus on high-speed OM3/OM4 multimode fiber connections between servers and storage devices.
FC Fiber Channel—Supports high speeds. Fiber Channel FC has become the first choice for connecting servers and storage devices because of its fast speed, low jitter, and high reliability. With the continuous development of server and storage technology, the speed of Fiber Channel FC is also increasing.
OM3/OM4 Multimode Fiber
Today, multi-core processor servers deployed in enterprise data centers range from 4-core to 12-core processors, each typically capable of 2 GHz of processing power, or 24 GHz for 12-core computing. In addition, current servers generally use PCIe3 (8G/line) and PCIe4 (16G/line) bus interfaces, gradually solving the bus interface bottleneck caused by the increase in the number of processors. Increased server computing power requires higher Ethernet data rates, as well as higher Fiber Channel rates. The future server bandwidth trend will be Ethernet 50/100Gbps (NIC) and 64 Gbps Fiber Channel (HBA) interconnects.
FC Fiber Channel - primarily uses OM3/OM4 multimode media. Fiber Channel FC is a point-to-point connection, and OM3/OM4 multimode fiber is the main medium for short-distance transmission, and the transmission distance can reach 150 meters. Now 16GFC and 32GFC channels mainly deploy OM3/OM4 multimode fiber. In addition, OM3/OM4 multimode fiber uses VCSEL lasers, so it is also more economical.
Initially, 128GFC is expected to be deployed on the internal switch link (ISL), connecting the entire link with MTP. Compared to traditional Fiber Channel with duplex serial connections, parallel transport will use 8-pin MTP connectors and adapter panels instead of MTP to LC interconnects.
Fiber Transport Channel FC needs higher speeds to increase the responsiveness of servers and storage devices. At present, the distance of FC channels is mostly within 100 meters, so OM3/OM4 multimode fiber connection is a wise choice with high cost performance.
