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FIBRE OPTIC CABLING
specific to particular vendors. When using parallel optics,
you need MTP-MTP trunks, couplers and MTP-MTP patch
cords. When using a female trunk, you have to run a male-
to-female patch cord from the transceiver. These patch
leads are rare and difficult to use as it’s hard to differentiate
between trunks and cords. For many people, this was the
reason to switch to male-male trunks. When using male-
male trunks, you can use female-female patch leads making
identification easier. In short, you can run into a lot of issues
if you use different, older and newer, genders simultaneously
in the data centre.
How MTP PRO help
MTP PRO is a push-pull connector allowing for easy on-site
polarity and gender change using a special tool. MTP PRO
can be used for both female and male trunks, and follow all
the polarity standards discussed using the same connector
Both in new and legacy projects, MTP PRO ensures that
polarity and gender issues that occur in the field can be
solved quickly, preventing project downtime. For new
projects, there’s usually a clear understanding what polarity
scheme is to be used and where male and female connectors
are located. Here, MTP PRO is useful on-site when the
wrong gender or polarity is delivered. And in legacy projects,
problems usually arise when polarity and gender schemes
aren’t well understood or suffer from changes due to new
applications. Overall, the benefits of adopting MTP PRO
could be described as longer lifetime, lower installation costs
and reduced investment. Downtime risk is reduced along
with cabling clutter.
With the MTP PRO connector, polarity can be changed
quickly and easily at any time, and with visual feedback. You
insert a tool, hear a click and once you pull it out the polarity
has been changed. Small holes visible in the housing show
whether you have changed connector polarity. In the ‘up’
position, the connector key is black, in the ‘down’ position
it’s white.
MTP PRO also allows for simplified field pin changes to
alter gender with a dedicated tool that extracts pins from
the connector. Of course, you can reverse the process and
reintroduce the pins in the same way. MTP PRO allows you
to change genders, make a trunk out of a patch cord, or
make a patch cord out of a trunk quickly and easily. If you
want to make a direct connection, you can remove the pins
and plug the connector into the transceiver. Small holes
become visible indicating the gender has been changed.
Thanks to MTP PRO, stock of MTP-MTP patch cords can
be reduced by 50% for projects that require parallel optics
and use female-female trunks as only one type of cord is
needed as opposed to two (female-male and male-male). A
final benefit of the MTP PRO is when testing MTP-MTP links.
If the gender of the test heads and MTP trunks are different
the recommended reference measurement cord can’t be
used. Test leads equipped with MTP PRO connectors solve
this issue.
MTP PRO is a proven, reliable and optimised solution that
allows you to change pins and polarity quickly and smoothly.
Using MTP PRO makes it easy to increase flexibility, add
connections rapidly and keep the data centre tidy. n
Why use MTP PRO in the data centre?
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Simplified field pin change
Easy field polarity change
Integrated push/pull insertion/extraction housing
Reduced debris connector system
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