16 January 2004 Orlando, FL Lightwave -- Berk-Tek, a Nexans Co., has introduced GIGAlite-10XB, which the company touts as "the industry's highest performing 50-micron multimode fiber." Berk-Tek cables featuring GIGAlite-10XB optical fiber will support 10-Gigabit Ethernet using serial 850-nm VCSEL technologies to a guaranteed distance of 600 m.
Utilizing the modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) process, the laser-optimized GIGAlite-10XB fibers come with an effective modal bandwidth of 4,900 MHz.km. GIGAlite-10XB fibers deliver a maximum attenuation of 3.0 dB/km as well as tightly controlled differential mode delay (DMD) performance, doubling the maximum 10-Gigabit Ethernet distances that IEEE currently specifies for multimode fiber.
GIGAlite-10XB will be able to support legacy systems including Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet beyond 1 km.
For campus backbone distances above 300 m (984 ft) and less than 600 m (1968 ft), the system designer can continue to use lower-cost VCSEL-based devices versus singlemode fiber systems. Berk-Tek's standard 50-micron GIGAlite fiber targets 10-Gbit/sec systems up to 150 m. For distances up to 300 m, the company recommends its GIGAlite-10 product.
According to Beni Blell, Berk-Tek's optical fiber product business manager, "The key value of the 50-micron GIGAlite-10XB product is the cost savings over singlemode systems and the invaluable performance headroom that these cables offer in a campus or building backbone infrastructure."