Brand-Rex launches the next generation fibre solution set

The new system is designed to support data rates of 10Gbps, 40Gbps, 100Gbps, 400Gbps and beyond. It is designed with the future in mind.

As data rates increase, compliance with the optical link-loss budgets has become even more challenging to the network designer. The budget is limited to just 2.6 dB for 10Gbps transmissions and as little as 1.5 dB on a 150 metre for 100 Gbps links. Because of this, Brand-Rex has standardised on very low-loss LC and MTP® Elite connectivity and protected the transmission lines with bend insensitive high bandwidth optical fibres.

The MTP® Elite is compatible with MPO connectors but is manufactured with much tighter fibre alignment tolerances resulting in lower interface losses.

Meeting the optical budget limits is critical in current data centre cabling deployments because the total connector loss within a system channel governs the ability of the system to operate over the required distance for a any given data rate. The Brand-Rex design approach, deployed in the Hi-Dex solution, allows the designer the flexibility to incorporate multiple connections or/and achieve longer distances.

The Hi-Dex fibre system is modular, it offers an extensive suite of products including alternative fibre cassettes, chassis and panels. The A 1U Hi-Dex chassis accommodates six independent Hi-Dex fibre cassettes.

The split cassettes tray design ensures that access can be made to individual 24f cassettes without compromising other live connections. It also presents a patching field of either 24 x LC connectors (12 duplex pairs) or 12 x 12-fibre MTP connectors for 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps applications.

Troublesome polarity issues with multi-fibre MPO/MTP connectors are banished as an innovative Brand-Rex design feature allows the cassettes to be simply flipped-over to change from Alpha polarity to Beta.

To provide technicians the greater on site flexibility, the Hi-Dex cassettes can be inserted or withdrawn from both the front or rear elevation of the patch cabinet providing for flexible working practices on site.

Although essential to maintaining fibre connector integrity, dust-caps are regularly lost, abandoned and forgotten. The resulting particle and dust ingress frequently leads to higher losses and compromises data transmission. The Brand-Rex Hi-Dex solution replaces dust caps with dust and laser protection shutters ‘in-built’ into the adaptors, providing safety and significantly reducing the risk of transmission loss.

Another frequent problem for technicians is the live line management of patch-cords. The Hi-Dex design eliminates this long standing problem. The locus-based cable tracking system ensures the distance from patch adaptor to cable tie point remains constant whether cassettes are ‘in’ or ‘out’. All of the fibre utilised in the Hi-Dex solution is of a ‘bend-insensitive’ specification thereby protecting the transmission line and ensuring maximum reliability and performance.

Yet another essential design feature, surprisingly often overlooked in structured cabling systems, is that of labelling. Good labelling is essential to the avoidance of accidental disconnections resulting in disruptive and expensive downtime. The Hi-Dex solution features comprehensive labelling of individual ports, cassettes and the chassis.

Ideal for the data centre or the comms room environment, the Hi-Dex range ensures a scalable and modular upgrade from 1Gbps through 10Gbps, 40Gbps to 100Gbps on either multi-mode or single-mode fibre. Hi-Dex offers the ultimate future proofing solution for multi-gigabit fibre channel, infiniband and Ethernet technologies.