What are Multi-Mode Fiber Types?

Multi-mode fibers were first used without any standard, each manufacture had different diameters and different connectors, Multi-mode fiber was optimized differently for different networks and different light sources.

In the 80s, the telecommunication industry unified the standard and everyone started focusing on the 62.5/125μm Multi-mode fiber standard and the 50/125μm was only used for radio telecommunications instead of Single-mode fiber. Later, the 62.5/125μm standard was called OM1, and it was only capable of 100 Mb/s bandwidth for a distance of 300 meters.

In the 90s the OM2 50/125μm standard was reintroduced with a higher 1 Gb/s bandwidth and a maximum distance of 600 meters. Then in 2002 the OM3 emerged, allowing the first 10Gb/s fiber optic networks but for only 300m distance.

Then, in 2009, the OM4 standard started to be used, at first it improved the distance over the OM3 to be 400m at 10Gb/s but then it got upgraded to transfer at 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s but for a distance around 100-150m. OM4 and OM3 stayed the main standards for years, especially for data center applications.

Finally, the OM5, which started in 2014 but was not officially a standard until 2016, was created to be more economical solution than the OM4 and introduced multiple channels in one fiber.

OM1        

• Orange color
• Core Size - 62.5um
• Data Rate - 1GB @ 850nm
• Distance - up to 300 meters
• Apps - Short-haul Networks, Local Area Networks, and Private Networks
• 62.5 / 125 Multi-Mode Fiber Cable

OM2        

• Orange color
• Core Size - 50um
• Data Rate - 1GB @ 850nm
• Distance - up to 600 meters
• Usually used for shorter distances
• 2x Distance Capacity of OM1
• Apps - Short-haul Networks, Local Area Networks, and Private Networks
• OM2 Fiber Optic Multi-Mode Cable

OM3 - Optimized Multi-Mode with Laser        

• Color - Turquoise
• Core Size - 50um
• Data Rate - 10GB @ 850nm
• Distance - up to 300 meters
• Uses less speed mode, providing increased speeds
• Can run up to 100GB of 40GB or 100GB using the MPO connector
• Applications - Larger Private Networks
• 10Gigabit Laser Optimize OM3 Fiber Optic Cabling

OM4 - Optimized Multi-Mode with Laser        

• Color - Violet
• Core Size - 50um
• 10Gb / 40Gb / 100Gb
• Distance and Data rate: 400m @10Gb / 150m @40Gb / 150m @100Gb
• Up to 150GB up to 100 meters using the MPO connector
• Applications - High Speed Networks - Data Centers, Financial Centers and Corporate Campuses
• OM4 50μ-Multi-Mode 10Giga / 550m Optimized Cables

What is OM5?        

Basically, the OM5 is made for 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s bandwidth; however, it uses multiple wavelengths (850nm, 880nm, 910nm, and 940nm) and uses a new technology called SWDM (shortwave wavelength division multiplexing). This technology allows the optic fiber to have multiple channels within the same core distribute the bandwidth up to four connections. This means that one OM5 40Gb/s cable acts as 4 separate cables with the speed of 10Gb/s and one OM5 100Gb/s can be used as four 25Gb/s cables. This improvement reduced the cost of data center equipment and cabling, especially that is compatible with OM3 and OM4; and it introduced a new generation with multiple numbers of connections in one cable.

OM4 and OM5: What's the Difference?        

First OM4 is meant to work with only 850nm and OM5 be used with 4 wavelengths (850nm, 880nm, 910nm, and 940nm). OM5 can use SWDM4 technology, which allows multiple laser channels with different wavelengths to be transferred through one fiber at the same time. SWDM4 technology can be applied on OM4, however it is not as optimized as the OM5 which can achieve 500m at 40G/s. The table blow demonstrates the differences in bandwidth and distance of OM4 and OM5

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