MRV Communications has expanded its XY family of optical media converters with the launch of Fiber Driver EM316GSW-XY, a gigabit/fast ethernet multi-function media converter.
The company said that the fiber driver XY family of media converters offers multiple functions combined with multi-rate small form-factor pluggable (SFP) design. The devices feature built-in media conversion, signal repeating and lambda conversion with optional wave division multiplexing (WDM) technology available through SFP interfaces.
The new EM316GSW-XY combines two 10/100/1000 ethernet copper ports and two 100/1000 SFP ethernet ports with four modes of operation to serve as a dual media converter, redundant converter, signal repeater or a four-port multi-media 100/1000 ethernet switch, the company said.
According to MRV, the new offering acts as a dual independent copper-to-fiber converter. It operates in standalone unmanaged mode, or can also be used in a 16-slot fiber driver chassis supporting up to 30 converters. It can also provide a self-healing copper-to-fiber connection for networks and acts as a two-port fiber and copper network distance extender.
The company claims that the new offering acts as a mixed-media ethernet switch in switch mode, allowing layer-two switching of fast/gigabit ethernet traffic to or from a fiber-based linear or ring network. Utilising MRV’s layer one automatic protection switching (MAPS) protocol, the EM316GSW-XY can also achieve fault tolerance in ring topologies.
The EM316GSW-XY also supports link fault pass-through with link integration notification (LIN) to ensure correct propagation of link faults by disabling both ends of a failed link. This allows devices dependent upon link state to respond to network conditions, the company said.
Noam Lotan, CEO of MRV Communications, said: “Typically, managing network cabling change and evolution has meant single function devices that can’t evolve with network change. With the versatility of the EM316GSW-XY media converter, enterprises can utilise the module’s four modes of operations to meet a variety of functions and reduce replacement inventory requirements, resulting in significant overall savings.”
