In this blog post, CommScope’s Paul Kolesar provides an update on the efforts within the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to produce a standard specifying what is being called wideband multimode fiber (WBMMF)—a multimode fiber that will have the capacity to support 100-Gbit/sec transmission over one fiber pair. We first reported on the WBMMF initiative in September, when CommScope and partners announced they were developing such a medium. In October we reported that the TIA had chosen to move forward with a specification for it.
Now, Kolesar provides new information—including a standard number—as well as background and additional perspective on the TIA standards effort. In the blog post, he explains that at the October meeting of TIA TR-42, “CommScope proposed to initiate a project to develop a WBMMF specification. The proposal received significant support and the work will be carried out by a task group with joint oversight of TR-42.11 (Optical Systems Subcommittee) and TR-42.12 (Optical Fiber and Cables Subcommittee). The task group will hold regular meetings, both face-to-face and by teleconference, and the output will be a new fiber specification to be published as TIA-492AAAE.”
Kolesar also explains that after that go-ahead with TIA in October, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 86A Subcommittee on Fibers and Cables met in November, at which time “a number of proponents of this initiative invited participation form the international community. Members of the European and Asian countries asked to participate in the TIA task group work.
“Clearly this proposal has sufficient participation and interest to move forward with focus and persistence,” he added.
We will follow developments of WBMMF standardization efforts as they proceed.
Paul Kolesar will present on the topic of WBMMF during a web seminar, hosted by Cabling Installation & Maintenance, on December 18. You can register for that seminar here.
You can read Paul Kolesar’s full post at the CommScope blog, here.
