How to choose fiber media converters?

What are fiber media converters
Applications of fiber media converters
How do fiber media converters work?
Fiber media converter form factors
Managed vs. unmanaged media converters
Commercial vs. industrial grade converters
Fiber optic media converter types:

Ethernet copper to fiber media converters
Ethernet copper to fiber converter for high-density distribution
TDM (T1/E1/T3/E3) over fiber media converters
Serial (RS-232,422,485,530) over fiber media converters
Multimode to single mode fiber media converters
Dual fiber to single fiber media converters

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What are fiber media converters?

A fiber media converter is a simple networking device that connects and translates signals between fiber optic cabling and another type of cabling media such as UTP (unshielded twisted pair) copper Ethernet cables as shown below.

It translates electronic signals to light signals and vice versa.

Fiber media converter between UTP Copper Ethernet and Fiber

Applications of fiber media converters

Extend the life of legacy networking equipment and wiring plants
Connect a variety of cabling types (translate between electronic and light signals)

Coax cable
BNC, Mini BNC
UTP (twisted pair) Category 4, 5, and 6
Copper RJ-45
Multimode fiber
Single mode fiber
SFP, SFP+ and XFP standard wavelength transceivers
SFP, SFP+ and XFP CWDM transceivers
ST, SC, LC and MT-RJ connectors
Dual and single fiber

Support different communication protocols

10M, 100M, Gigabit and 10G Ethernet
10G OTN (Optical Transport Network)
T1/E1/J1
T3/E3/DS3
Serial RS-232, RS-422, RS-485, RS-530
SONET (OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and OC-96)
Fibre Channel
Protocol Transparent, supporting data rates up to 11.32 Gbps

Extend the range of the connections in your network by using fiber optic cabling

Fiber optic connectivity is necessary when the distance between two network devices exceeds the transmission distance of copper cabling. Copper-to-fiber conversion using media converters enables two network devices with copper ports to be connected over extended distances via fiber optic cabling.

When expanding the reach of the LAN to span multiple locations, media converters are useful in connecting multiple LANs to form one large campus area network that spans over a limited geographic area.

As premises networks are primarily copper-based, media converters can extend the reach of the LAN over single-mode fiber up to 160 kilometers with 1550 nm optics.

How do fiber media converters work?

Media converters work on the physical layer of the network. They receive data signals from one media (such as electronic signal on a twisted pair copper cable) and convert them to another (such as light pulses on a fiber optic cable) while remaining invisible to other networking devices.

Media converters are as simple to install as patch cables and connectors. They do not interfere with upper-level protocol information. This makes them support Quality of Service (QoS) and Layer 3 switching.

Fiber media converter form factors

PC card converters
Small standalone devices
High port-density chassis systems

PC card fiber media converters

Standalone fiber media converters

Chassis fiber media converter systesm

Managed vs. Unmanaged Media Converters

Unmanaged fiber media converters

A unmanaged media converter allows for simple communication with one another but does not provide monitoring, fault detection and setting up network configurations.

The unmanaged option is a great choice for newbies and if you want a plug and play fiber network cable installation.

There are configurations you can set through a hardware DIP switch.

Managed fiber media converters

Managed media converters cost more but offer advanced network monitoring, fault detection, remote configuration, and more functions.

They have SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) agent running which reports their status to the NSM (Network Management System) manager.

A SNMP managed network consist of 3 key components:

Managed device (the media converter)
SNMP agent, software that runs on managed devices
Network Management Systems (NSM) software that runs on the manager (administrative computer)

Most managed media converters support all authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) security services used in corporate networks, including TACACS+, RADIUS, LDAP, Kerberos, NIS and RSA.

To further protect ID’s and passwords from someone ‘snooping’ on the network, managed media converters provide secure management sessions by supporting SSH, SNMPv3, Telnet and HTTPS.

These types of features are used when managing your corporate firewalls, switches and routers.

Commercial vs. industrial grade converters

Commercial grade fiber media converters

They are used in a controlled environment like offices. They have commercial temperature ratings (0 ~ 40°C).

They cannot be installed easily inside equipment enclosures and normally have a single power supply input.

Industrial grade fiber media converters

Are used in hot, humid, vibration-prone, electrically noisy environments. They have industrial temperature ratings (-40 to 85°C).

Industrial grade converters have rugged enclosures using Din-Rail or Panel Mounting so they can be easily installed inside equipment enclosures. They also have redundant power input.

Commercial Grade Fiber Media Converter

Industrial Fiber Media Converter with DIN-RAIL Mouting

Industrial Fiber Media Converter with DIN-RAIL mounting

Ethernet Copper to Fiber Media Converter

This application shows how to use fiber media converters to provide seamless integration of different Ethernet cabling media. A pair of copper-to-fiber media converters is used to connect two copper switches via fiber.

Ethernet Copper to Fiber Media Converter for High-Density Fiber Distribution

In this application example, Ethernet copper to fiber media converters are installed in a redundant power chassis for high-density fiber distribution from the network core (A).

A UTP workgroup switch (B) is connected via fiber to the network core with a standalone media converter.
Another media converter connects a PC UTP port in a fiber-to-desktop application (C).
An Ethernet switch (D) is connected directly via fiber to the media converter module at the network core.

T1/E1 (T3/E3) TDM over Fiber Media Converter

T1/E1 (T3/E3) converters operate in pairs extending distances of TDM circuits over fiber. Fiber links can be extended up to 120km using single-mode fiber.

In this application, a pair of T1/E1 media converters is used to extend the demarcation point (hand-off from the Service Provider) to another tenant building with fiber.

Serial (RS-232,422,485,530) over Fiber Media Converters

Serial-to-fiber converters provide fiber extension for serial protocol copper connections.

They can automatically detect the signal baud rate of the connected Full-Duplex serial device, and support point-to-point and multi-point configurations.

In this example, a pair of RS-232 converters provides the serial connection between a PC and Terminal Server.

Multimode to Single-mode Fiber Media Converter

Enterprise networks often require conversion from multimode fiber to single mode fiber in these cases:

Legacy networking equipment uses multimode fiber, and connectivity is required to single mode fiber equipment
A building has multimode fiber equipment, while the connection to the service provider is single mode fiber
Multimode fiber equipment is in a campus building and single mode fiber is used between buildings

A fiber-to-fiber media converter can extend a multimode fiber network across single mode fiber up to 160km.

Dual (Duplex) Fiber to Single-Fiber Media Converter

In some networks we need to convert between duplex fiber and single-fiber, depending on the type of equipment and the fiber installed in the facility.

Single-fiber is single-mode and operates with bi-directional wavelengths, often referred to as BIDI. Typically BIDI single-fiber uses 1310nm and 1550nm wavelengths over the same fiber strand in opposite directions.

In this application, two dual fiber switches are connected via single-fiber. Since BIDI single-fiber uses two separate wavelengths over the same fiber strand, the transmitter (Tx) at one end of the fiber link must match the receiver (Rx) on the other end, and vice versa.