[AusNOG] Copper versus fibre in the DC

[Reuben Farrelly]

On 12/10/2013 6:52 PM, James Braunegg wrote:
> Dear Alastair,
>
> I would recommend
>
> Single mode Fibre for any rack to rack communications , or rack to
> carrier communication .
>
> Today the same single mode fibre will run 1gbit, 10gbit, 40gbit and
> 100gbit … and I’m sure it will run 400gbit in years to come and that’s
> before you look at wavelength technology.

What about Multimode Fibre though, given:

- It's often around half the price of single mode fibre, both in terms 
of optics and fibre media (per meter)

- It can do 1G/10G/40G/100G as well with OM4, albeit at smaller 
distances than single mode - but still much more than copper.  OM4 can 
do 10G at 550 meters with SR optics, for example.

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see why multimode wouldn't be a 
viable option also [happy to be corrected if there's something I'm 
missing here].

Reuben