PARALLEL OPTICS

MPO

Parallel optics combining the use of cables and fiber optics serve as the medium to satisfy the growing need for transmission speed and data volume. The MPO format dramatically reduce the amount of time, effort, and space required to install and deploy network technologies.

An MPO connector generally contains 12 or 24 fibers and can be used for parallel optical applications such as Infiniband and Ethernet protocols. The most common is the MPO-12 which has one row of 12 fibers and the higher-density MPO-24 connector is composed of 2 rows of 12 fibers.

The MPO-16 and MPO-32 also exists on the market, made up of one row of 16 fibers. Additionally, the MPO-32 is made up of two rows of 16 fibers each.

MPO connectors are either male (with pins) or female (without pins) to ensure alignment of the fiber end faces during mating.

Since the MPO interfaces on active equipment are male (with pins), MPO patch cords should be female (without pins) to avoid damage to the transceiver. MPO connectors also include a key on the top side of the connector and a white dot on the side to indicate the location of Position 1. The orientation of the key is critical when it comes to polarity.