Female MTP® Elite to LC/UPC Fanout | Base-8 | Multi Mode G651.OM4 | 3.0/1.8mm

Overview

The Female MTP® Elite to LC UPC Base-8 OM4 Fanout Cable is an essential component for structured cabling systems, designed to bridge high-density MTP® backbone cabling with lower-speed LC-interfaced equipment. This assembly features an unpinned Female MTP® Elite connector on one end, engineered to mate perfectly with a Male (pinned) MTP® trunk or patch cable. The other end fans out to eight LC UPC connectors (arranged as four duplex pairs), enabling the breakout of a 40G or 100G signal into four separate 10G or 25G channels.

Built with high-performance, laser-optimized multi-mode OM4 fiber, this fanout cable is perfectly suited for high-bandwidth data center applications. Its Base-8 MTP® configuration is the industry standard for SR4 (Short Reach) parallel optics, utilizing all 8 fibers (4 transmit, 4 receive) for 100% efficiency. This makes it a superior choice over Base-12 for 40G/100G applications, as it avoids unused “dark” fibers and simplifies network planning.

Key Features

• Female MTP® Connector: Unpinned design for connecting to Male MTP® trunk cables, extending your structured cabling to the equipment rack.
• Efficient Base-8 Design: Optimized for 40GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-SR4 applications, ensuring 100% fiber utilization and maximum cost-effectiveness.
• Premium OM4 Fiber: High-bandwidth 50/125µm OM4 fiber supports 40G up to 150 meters and 100G up to 100 meters.
• MTP® Elite Low Loss: The premium MTP® Elite connector ensures a minimal insertion loss (IL ≤ 0.35dB), preserving signal integrity across extended links.
• Simplified Port Breakout: Seamlessly converts a single multi-fiber MTP® connection into four industry-standard LC duplex connections for direct equipment patching.
• Durable Construction: Features a robust 3.0mm main cable jacket that protects the internal fibers, transitioning to rugged 1.8mm fanout legs for easy management.

Applications

This cable is the ideal solution for connecting hardware to a pre-installed MTP® backbone.

• Connecting a 40G/100G Male MTP® trunk cable to four SFP+/SFP28 ports on a switch or server rack
• Use in Zone Distribution Areas (ZDA) to break out backbone cabling for local equipment
• High-density patching in Equipment Distribution Areas (EDA) and data center racks
• Extending 40GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-SR4 channels from a central patching field
• Enabling flexible “interconnect” architectures where equipment is connected to a passive patch panel

Specifications

Cross-Platform Compatibility

This MTP® to LC fanout cable is engineered to exceed all TIA/EIA and IEC industry standards, ensuring full interoperability with any standards-compliant structured cabling system and networking hardware. Its universal design guarantees seamless performance when connecting to equipment from all major vendors, including:

• Cisco
• Juniper
• Arista
• HPE/Aruba
• Brocade
• Dell/Force10
• Finisar
• Intel

Advantages

The primary advantage of this Female MTP® fanout is its role in structured cabling. It allows network administrators to run high-density Male-to-Male MTP® trunks as a permanent backbone and then use these shorter, more manageable fanout cables at the rack for final equipment hookup. This modular approach simplifies moves, adds, and changes (MACs) and protects the more critical trunk infrastructure.

FAQ (Technical & Product Questions)

1. When should I use this Female MTP® fanout cable?

Use this Female fanout cable when you need to connect to a Male MTP® connector. This is common in structured cabling where a Male-to-Male MTP® trunk cable is run between racks. This fanout cable then connects to the end of the trunk and breaks out the signal to LC ports on your switches or servers.

2. Can I plug this cable directly into a QSFP+ transceiver?

No. Transceivers like QSFP+ or QSFP28 have Female (unpinned) MTP® ports. To ensure proper alignment, you must use a Male (pinned) connector to plug into a transceiver. This Female fanout is designed to mate with a Male cable, not a transceiver.

3. Why is a Base-8 design better for 40G/100G SR4?

40G and 100G SR4 transceivers use 8 fibers (4 transmit and 4 receive). A Base-8 cable perfectly matches this requirement, ensuring all fibers are used. A Base-12 cable would leave 4 fibers unconnected and wasted, making the Base-8 design more efficient for this specific application.

4. What is the benefit of the MTP® Elite connector?

The MTP® Elite connector is a high-performance variant with a guaranteed lower insertion loss (IL) of 0.35dB or less, compared to 0.75dB for a standard connector. Lower loss is critical for maintaining a strong signal, especially over longer distances or in multi-connection links, ensuring reliable, error-free network performance.

5. Is this cable compatible with older OM3 fiber systems?

Yes, OM4 fiber is fully backward compatible with OM3. You can use this OM4 cable in an OM3 system, but the entire link will perform to the lower OM3 specification. For maximum distance and performance, the entire channel should be OM4.