Fibre Channel Physical Layer
Media Types
Electrical vs. Optical
Electrical cables:
Short distances
Typically used intra-cabinet
or in rack configurations
Optical cables:
Up to 10km
Up to 120km with extended-
distance Transceivers
Optical cables:
There are different grades and different types of optical cables. The
original specification said that we could run point to point Fibre Channel
up to 10 kilometres. We then borrowed an extended distance SFP from
course division multiplexing which utilized a longer wavelength. This
increased our maximum distance to 120 kilometres.
Electrical cables:
Used for short distance.
The original distance for electrical cables was up to 33m. For the higher
speeds this reduces to 8m.