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Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Cabling Tutorial

Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Cabling Tutorial

July 10, 2007

For nearly a decade the most popular form of networking has been a standard known as Ethernet. Starting out at a speed of 2.94 megabits per second (Mbps), this original ethernet networking standard evolved to reach speeds of 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps (or 1,000Mbps) and now 10Gbps (10,000Mbps). These last two ethernet developments are known as Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Ethernet.

Gigabit ethernet can travel over unshielded twisted pair (UTP) copper cable known as Category 5, Category 5e or Category 6 cable, or it can travel over fiber optic cable which allows greater distances and comparable costs. Below is a list of the various standards of Gigabit and 10-Gigabit ethernet standards.



Name Fiber Type & Transmission Wavelength(s) Maximum Distance*
1000BASE-SX Multimode fiber at 850nm wavelength 220m (62.5-micron fiber) or 500m (50-micron fiber)*
1000BASE-LX Singlemode fiber at 1310nm wavelength 2km*
1000BASE-BX10 1 strand of singlemode fiber at 1490nm & 1310nm wavelengths 10km*
1000BASE-LH Singlemode fiber at 1550 nm wavelength 70km*
1000BASE-ZX Singlemode fiber at 1550 nm wavelength 70km*
10GBASE-SR Multimode fiber at 850nm wavelength 26m (62.5 micron fiber) ~ 300m (50 micron fiber)*
10GBASE-LR Singlemode fiber at 1310nm wavelength 10km to 25km*
10GBASE-LRM Multimode fiber at 1310nm wavelength 220m (62.5 micron fiber) ~ 260m (50 micron fiber)*
10GBASE-ER Singlemode fiber at 1550nm wavelength 40km*
10GBASE-ZR Singlemode fiber at 1550nm wavelength 80km*
10GBASE-LX4

Multimode fiber at 1310nm wavelength

Singlemode fiber at 1310nm wavelength

300m*

10km*

* IMPORTANT NOTE: These distances have been demonstrated, but longer distances are possible depending on the quality and type of fiber optic glass used and the specifications of the transmitting and receiving devices used. Also, calculations for additional loss factors (splices and connector matings) must be considered (see separate Maximum Fiber Cable Distance article).