OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OS2 Over Different Networks

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During the selection of fiber optic cables or fiber optic patch cords, there is a factor that you must consider which is the fiber type. The most commonly used fiber type in today’s network are multimode fiber optic and single-mode fiber optic. The multimode optical fiber can be further divided into OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4. For single-mode fiber optic, there are generally two types—OS1 and OS2. Among these different types of fibers, OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OS2 are the most commonly used one.

OM3 patch cords and OS2 patch cords

Fiber Type Is Important to Fiber Optic Network Performance

Apparently different types of the optical fibers provide different performances. Multimode fibers are typically used for inside building or short transmission distances. OM1 and OM2 are the older generation of multimode optical fibers with work well over fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. However, with the appearance of 10G, 40G and 100G Ethernet coming into being, OM1 and OM2 can no longer provide performance as well as fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet and can not satisfy the transmission distance requirements. That’s why OM3 and OM4 are created. Similarly, the appearance of OS2 is also well explained.

Basic Difference of OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OS2

Generally, OM1 fiber optic cable comes with an orange jacket and has a core size of 62.5 micrometers and is usually used for Gigabit Ethernet transmission in short-haul networks, Local Area Network, and Private Network. OM2 has the same jacket color and similar application as OM1. However, it can has a core size of 50.0 micrometers and support longer transmission distance. Both OM3 and OM4 are both with Aqua jackets and 50.0 micrometers core size and are suggested for 10G, 40G and 100G Ethernet. Now OM1 and OM2 are gradually being replaced by OM3 and OM4. OS2 is the currently widely deployed in our fiber optic network, it has a core size of 9 micrometers.

Specific Performance of OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OS2 Over Different Networks

Not matter what the structure or materials that makes these optical fibers. What we care most is there performance in fiber optic network. Especially factors like transmission distance, wavelength and data rate. For instance, the same type of fiber optic cable will have different performance when working on different data rate or wavelengths. Fiber type plays an important role in the performance of optical communication products like fiber optic transceivers, fiber media converters and DWDM/CWDM MUX/DEMUX. This part will provide several tables which offers the specific performances of the current most popular optical fibers—OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 and OS2.

OM1 Performance

OM1 Performance
Wavelength	850 nm		1300 nm
Performance	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)
Ethernet	2000m	n/s	n/s	n/s
Fast Ethernet	300m	11	2000m	11
1GbE	275m	3.6	550m	3.6
10GbE	26m	2.6	n/s	2.6
40GbE	n/s	1.9	n/s	1.9
100GbE	n/s	1.9/1.5	n/s	1.9/1.5
Typical Bandwidth	200MHz		500MHz

OM2 Performance

OM2 Performance
Wavelength	850 nm		1300 nm
Performance	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)
Ethernet	2000m	n/s	n/s	n/s
Fast Ethernet	300m	11	2000m	11
1GbE	550m	3.6	550m	3.6
10GbE	82m	2.6	82m	2.6
40GbE	n/s	1.9	n/s	1.9
100GbE	n/s	1.9/1.5	n/s	1.9/1.5
Typical Bandwidth	500MHz		800MHz

OM3 Performance

OM3 Performance
Wavelength	850 nm		1300 nm
Performance	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)
Ethernet	2000m	n/s	n/s	n/s
Fast Ethernet	300m	11	2000m	11
1GbE	550m	3.6	550m	3.6
10GbE	300m	2.6	300m	2.6
40GbE	100m	1.9	n/s	1.9
100GbE	100m	1.9/1.5	n/s	1.9/1.5
Typical Bandwidth	1500MHz		500MHz

OM4 Performance

OM4 Performance
Wavelength	850 nm		1300 nm
Performance	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)
Ethernet	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Fast Ethernet	n/s	11	n/s	11
1GbE	550m	3.6	550m	3.6
10GbE	550m	2.6	550m	2.6
40GbE	150m	1.9	n/s	1.9
100GbE	150m	1.9/1.5	n/s	1.9/1.5
Typical Bandwidth	3500MHz		500MHz

OS2 Performance

OS2 Performance
Wavelength	1310 nm		1550 nm
Performance	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)	Distances	Loss Budget(dB)
Ethernet	n/s	n/s	n/s	n/s
Fast Ethernet	n/s	11	n/s	11
1GbE	5000m	3.6	n/s	3.6
10GbE	10000m	2.6	40000m	2.6
40GbE	10000m	1.9	40000m	1.9
100GbE	10000m	1.9/1.5	40000m	1.9/1.5
Typical Bandwidth	n/a		n/a