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Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987. The currently fastest PHYs run 400 Gbit/s. 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s started development in 2021. Fiber is actually the cable type with the most Ethernet variants by far, more than all others combined.

Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the frequency and reach limitations of twisted-pair copper - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of category-8 twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m (of category 6A).

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS1 single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS2 SMF

(minimum fiber grades for full reach)

There are many other PHY standards for various data rates and distances, also many common non-standards for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete, up-to-date list of physical layer variants you can check WP.

Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987, the currently fastest fiber PHYs run 400 Gbit/s. 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s started development in 2021. Fiber is actually the cable type with the most Ethernet variants by far, more than all others combined.

Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the bandwidth and reach limitations of twisted-pair copper - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of category-8 twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m (of category 6A).

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS1 single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS2 SMF

(minimum fiber grades for full reach)

There are many other fiber standards for various data rates and distances, also many common vendor-specific or MSA ones for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete, up-to-date list of physical layer variants you can check Wikipedia: Ethernet physical layer.

Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987. The currently fastest PHYs run 400 Gbit/s. 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s started development in 2021. Fiber is actually the cable type with the most Ethernet variants by far, more than all others combined.

Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the frequency and reach limitations of twisted-pair copper - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of category-8 twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m (of category 6A).

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of SMF

There are many other PHY standards for various data rates and distances, also many common non-standards for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete, up-to-date list of physical layer variants you can check WP.

Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987. The currently fastest PHYs run 400 Gbit/s. 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s started development in 2021. Fiber is actually the cable type with the most Ethernet variants by far, more than all others combined.

Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the frequency and reach limitations of twisted-pair copper - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of category-8 twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m (of category 6A).

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS1 single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of OS2 SMF

(minimum fiber grades for full reach)

There are many other PHY standards for various data rates and distances, also many common non-standards for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete, up-to-date list of physical layer variants you can check WP.

Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987, the currently fastest PHYs run 400 Gbit/s, added in 2017. Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the frequency and reach limitations of copper cables - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m.

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of SMF

There are many other PHY standards for various data rates and distances, also many common non-standards for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete list of physical layer variants you can check WP.

Ethernet uses a variety of cable types - an Ethernet cable can be pretty much anything. Ethernet has been using optical fiber for decades. The first standard was 10 Mbit/s FOIRL in 1987. The currently fastest PHYs run 400 Gbit/s. 800 Gbit/s and 1.6 Tbit/s started development in 2021. Fiber is actually the cable type with the most Ethernet variants by far, more than all others combined.

Fiber has become common in datacenters due to the frequency and reach limitations of twisted-pair copper - currently and probably permanently limited to 40 Gbit/s over only 30 m of category-8 twisted pair or just 10 Gbit/s over the full 100 m (of category 6A).

Depending on your requirements, you're probably looking for one of these:

• 1000BASE-SX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 550 m of OM2 multi-mode fiber
• 1000BASE-LX: 1 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of single-mode fiber
• 10GBASE-SR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 400 m of OM4 MMF
• 10GBASE-LR: 10 Gbit/s over up to 10 km of SMF

There are many other PHY standards for various data rates and distances, also many common non-standards for even longer distance. The required optical transceivers are usually SFP (1G) or SFP+ modules (10G) plugged into your network hardware. External media converters for devices without SFP slot are also available.

For a complete, up-to-date list of physical layer variants you can check WP.