The difference between OM5 and OM4 fiber optic jumpers

The following uses OM4 fiber jumper as a representative to compare with OM5 fiber jumper, so that you can better understand OM5 fiber jumper and OM4 fiber jumper.

What is OM5 fiber optic jumper?

OM5 fiber jumper is a laser-optimized multimode fiber jumper, which specifies broadband characteristics for wavelength division multiplexing. OM5 fiber jumper, also known as broadband multimode fiber jumper, is suitable for high bandwidth applications. It uses the wavelength division multiplexing technology of single-mode fiber to extend the range of available wavelengths for network transmission. It can support 4 wavelengths on a single-core multimode fiber, reducing the number of required fiber cores to 1/4 of the previous one.

What is OM4 fiber optic jumper?

OM4 fiber jumper is also a laser-optimized multimode fiber jumper. The diameter of OM4 fiber jumper is 50μm. In fact, OM4 fiber jumper is an upgraded version of OM3 fiber jumper, which is developed for VSCEL laser transmission.

The difference between OM5 fiber optic jumper and OM4 fiber optic jumper

In structure, there is no difference between OM5 fiber jumper and OM4 fiber jumper, and OM5 fiber jumper is compatible with OM4 fiber jumper. In addition, there are still differences between the two. The following is a comparison between OM5 fiber jumper and OM4 fiber jumper.

The colors are different: the color of the outer sheath of the OM5 fiber jumper is water green; while the color of the outer sheath of the OM4 fiber jumper is water blue.

The wavelength is different: the wavelength of OM5 fiber jumper is generally 850/1300nm, and it can support at least 4 wavelengths at a time; while the wavelength of OM4 fiber jumper is generally 850/1310nm, and it can only support 1 wavelength at a time.

Different transmission distance: In the case of the same wavelength, the transmission distance of OM5 fiber jumper is generally longer than that of OM4 fiber jumper.

The transmission rate is different: the transmission rate of OM5 fiber jumper is 40Gb/s, 100Gb/s; while the transmission rate of OM4 fiber jumper is 10Gb/s, 40Gb/s, 100Gb/s.

The effective mode bandwidth (EMB) is different: at the wavelength of 850nm, the effective mode bandwidth (EMB) of the OM5 fiber jumper is 6000MHZ.km, while the effective mode bandwidth (EMB) of the OM4 fiber jumper is 4700MHZ.km. The effective mode bandwidth EMB of the patch cord is much higher than that of the OM4 fiber optic patch cord.

Selection of OM5 fiber jumper and OM4 fiber jumper

To sum up, the performance of OM5 fiber optic patch cord is much higher than that of OM4 fiber optic patch cord. As the choice of future data centers, OM5 fiber optic patch cords exceed OM4 fiber optic patch cords in terms of effective mode bandwidth (EMB), which means that they can provide margin space for Ethernet and give data centers stronger vitality. However, when the transmission rate cannot reach 40Gb/s, considering the cost, choosing OM4 fiber jumper is the best solution.