FAQ1: How to Understand Of  MPO and MTP connectors？

MPO is a fiber optic connector – MPO standing for “Multi-fiber Push On” which was originally developed and licensed by NTT Group. Licensing led to several variants of MPO, and MTP®, meaning “Multi-Fiber Termination Push-on” and trademarked by US Conec for their MPO connector, provided some added functionality over MPO in the early years of development. However, over the years the divergence between the two types of connectors has narrowed, with many MPO connectors now offer the same performance and even additional features over MTP.

FAQ2: What is an MPO/MTP cable?
MPO/MTP cables consist of connectors and optical fibers ready to connect and are more flexible and smaller than traditional trunk fiber cables which can often make the data center crowded and difficult to manage. A single MPO/MTP cable can bring together 8, 12, 16, 24,32, or 48 fibers in one connector, allowing up to 144 fibers in a single 1U chassis using LC connectors. MPO/MTP cables come in multimode, designed for high bandwidth/short range situations, and single mode, which is optimized for data transfer at long range.

FAQ3: What are the Differences Between Connecting Male and Female?
MPO cables can have male (two pins) and female (two holes) connectors. To ensure proper alignment connections can only be made between male and female connectors. Adapters are available to convert male to female and vice versa, if needed. One thing to note is that the ports on MPO equipment are usually male, so when connecting to an optical transceiver the MPO trunk cable needs to be female without pins.

FAQ4: How many Color-coded Cable Jackets are available?
To distinguish between different types of cables, for example, single mode and multimode, and specifications (OS1, OS2, etc), MPO/MTP cable jackets are color-coded. Single mode cables are coded yellow. However, when purchasing single-mode, always check the OS specification (OS1 and OS2) to ensure that the correct one is selected. Multimode cables are color-coded in aqua (also representing OM3 and OM4), and lime green for OM5. To avoid confusion between OM3 and OM4, violet-colored jackets for OM4 were introduced in Europe by manufacturers and this color has started to be adopted in the USA.