Fiber Media Converter
Consider you have a network running over old copper wires and you wanted to connect it to faster and more reliable fiber optic cables, Is it possible? Yes.!!! It is very much possible by using the Fiber Media Converters. A media converter not only changes electrical signals which are running on unshielded twisted pair (UTP) copper cables to optical signals that run on the fiber optic but it is best to extend a network more than 100m distance. If you look at its network connectivity, it doesn’t seem like two different network wires but it seems like a single cable running without changing the nature of the network. That’s why network executives are willing to upgrade their system from copper to fiber and don’t want to invest an extra amount on Time, manpower, etc. prefer to use media converters.
Media Converters can function in either half-duplex or full-duplex mode. Full duplex Ethernet over UTP runs at 20 or 200Mbps, while half-duplex Ethernet over UTP runs at either 10 or 100 Mbps. Full duplex Ethernet is especially valuable in linking two switches or connecting a switch to a file server. No adjustments are necessary when using either mode. A Fiber Optic Media Converter will automatically sense which mode is in operation.
Types & Installation of Media Converters
Media converters are simple network hardware devices, which are equipped with fewer interfaces that’s why the cabling and connectivity is less complex. They can be installed on a desktop or a chassis and they are very simple to connect due to their plug n play nature. You just insert the corresponding cables into the copper and fiber ports on it, then connect the cables to the network devices at each end and you’re done.
A variety of fiber optic media converters are available in the market these days, such as Ethernet Media Converters, 10/100/1000 Media Converters, Gigabit Ethernet Converter, Multimode Media Converters, Singlemode Media Converter, 10 Gigabit Ethernet Converter, Media Converter Rack Chassis, etc.
But there are two typical types of Media converters Copper-to-fiber and fiber-to-fiber media converters.
Copper-Fiber can enable connections of copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link to extend links over greater distances.
Whereas Fiber-Fiber offers the connectivity between multimode and single-mode fiber connections. It also converts the wavelengths from standard wavelengths (1310nm, 1550nm) to WDM wavelengths in. dual fiber and single fiber mode.
When to choose the right Media Converter
Fiber media converters are used often in such cases where Ethernet cables cannot cover and fiber optical cables must be used to extend the transmission distance in the lowest cost scenario. They can be used for both the construction of LANs and trans-MAN’s, such as linking enterprise and campus backend networks.