Fiber Cable Management and Connectivity: Patch Panels and Cassettes

Fiber-optic cabling can deliver more data over longer distances than traditional copper cabling. As a result, more data centers are switching to fiber. According to a recent report from Global Industry Analysts, the market for fiber-optic components is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 8.2 percent through 2026.

Effective cable management is critically important when implementing fiber — particularly in today’s dynamic data center environment. Moves, adds, and changes happen frequently, making it difficult to troubleshoot issues and maintain the recommended bend radius of the fiber-optic cables. Constant insertion/unplugging reduces the life of cable connectors and creates a high risk of contamination of the cable fiber tip. Check out our blog for data center cable management best practices.

Patch panels and cassettes can help prevent these problems.

What Are Fiber Patch Panels?

Patch panels are rack- or wall-mountable units with multiple fiber-optic ports.

What Are Fiber Cassettes?

Cassettes are smaller units that serve as a junction point for fiber strands.

Together, they streamline cable management and reduce the potential for bending and damage that increase costs and the risk of unplanned downtime.

Can You Bend Fiber Optic Cable (Fiber Bend Radius)?

Fiber-optic cables may seem delicate, but in reality, they’re fairly tough — particularly those made with polymer instead of glass. Nevertheless, the bend radius of fiber plays a key role in the performance and reliability of the network.

Data is transmitted as pulses of light through a polymer, glass polymer, or glass core that’s surrounded by a layer of cladding. Because the cladding has a lower refractive index than the core, it creates a reflection that causes light waves to travel the length of the fiber.

Everywhere the cable bends, even slightly, some of these light pulses are lost. The more acute the bend, the greater the loss and signal attenuation. That’s why manufacturers specify a minimum bend radius for their cables.

Minimum Bend Radius for Fiber Cabling

This value will vary, but generally is not less than 10 times the cable’s outer diameter.

The minimum bend radius also helps to protect the cable. The smaller the bend radius, the more stress on the fiber and the greater the risk of long-term failure.

Fiber Cable Management: How Patch Panels and Cassettes Can Help

Patch panels and cassettes provide a convenient and flexible means of interconnecting fiber-optic cables. They protect backbone cables from the wear and tear of frequent moves, adds, and changes, and make it easier to maintain the proper bend radius as more cables are added.

How Do Fiber Patch Panels Work?

Patch panels are a bit like the switchboards once used by telephone operators. They contain multiple ports for plugging in the patch cables that connect to various devices. A key benefit of patch panels is simplified maintenance — instead of tracing a cable from the backbone to a device, IT teams can easily identify connections for testing and troubleshooting. Patch panels take up space in a rack or cabinet, but they reduce cable clutter and make it easier to add devices. If a patch cable becomes worn or damaged, it can be replaced inexpensively.

How Do Fiber Cassettes Work?

With traditional fiber patch panels, each strand of fiber has to feed through. Cassettes take one bundled cable with multiple strands of fiber and splice them off on the other end to plug into a panel. They can also be used to interconnect cables with different types of connectors. For example, they can convert from the 1.25mm Little Connector (LC) to the 2.55mm by 6.4mm Multi-Fiber Push-On (MPO) or Multi-Fiber Terminal Push-On (MTP) connector.

Fiber-Optic Patch Panels and Cassettes from Enconnex

Enconnex offers a full suite of network cabling products including 24- and 48-port patch panels and MTP, MPO, and LC cassettes in a variety of configurations. They are built to maintain the health and performance of your cabling, whether you use OM3, OM4, or single-mode fiber. Our team has extensive expertise in fiber-optic products and can help you choose the right solutions for your environment.