As data centers increase in size and scale, many industry watchers wonder when the use of single-mode optical fiber will overtake multimode fiber in these facilities. For hyperscale data center designers, that time has arrived. However, for much of the enterprise market, multimode fiber still offers significant cost and power savings over other fibers for supporting short-reach links.
As you read this blog, multimode fiber developers are hard at work creating even more cost-effective, short-reach solutions. In fact, fiber manufacturers recently introduced OM5 wideband multimode fiber, which will support short wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM).
In a new ICT Today article, OFS Product Manager John Kamino takes an in-depth look at the evolution, introduction and standardization of wideband multimode fiber.