Nomenclature for WBMMF decided: It’s OM5 fiber

Oct. 12, 2016
The ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 25 standards-making group made the decision in early October. The TIA will use the OM5 fiber nomenclature in its cabling standards.

An International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) standards-making body has decided that the nomenclature used for wideband multimode fiber (WBMMF) will be OM5. The decision was made in October by the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1)/Subcommittee 25 (SC 25) Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment.

At a spring 2016 meeting of JTC 1/SC 25’s Working Group 3 – Customer Premises Cabling – the working group was unable to reach agreement on the naming of wideband multimode fiber. They came up with three proposals: OM4W, OM5, and OM5W. In October SC 25 held a ballot, and OM5 was the victor.

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) will adopt the term OM5 in certain standards it produces. In June, TIA’s TR-42.12 Optical Fibers and Cables Subcommittee approved the ANSI/TIA-492AAAE standard, which specifies wideband multimode fiber. As Cindy Montstream explained in an article published in Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine in September, “The standard specifies 50/125-micron laser-optimized fiber that is optimized for enhanced performance for single-wavelength or multi-wavelength transmission systems with wavelengths in the vicinity of 850nm to 950nm. The actual operating band is from 850 to 953nm. The effective modal bandwidth for this new fiber is specified at the lower and upper wavelengths: 4700 MHz.km at 850nm and 2470 MHz.km at 953nm.”

Sponsored Recommendations

March 28, 2025
Bringing University of Tennesee's campus up to speed.
March 28, 2025
CommScope’s FiberGuide® Design Pro helps you design a complete fiber raceway for your data center or central office using 2D and 3D technology. This video guides you through the...
March 28, 2025
CommScope and Equinix work hand in hand to provide client connectivity across the globe