With the rapid development of the Internet, traffic has increased rapidly, and data centers have higher requirements for speed and bandwidth. In the 40G/100G data center cabling scheme, parallel transmission technology has made multi fiber MPO patch cord widely used. The commonly known MPO patch cord is actually composed of OM3/OM4 multimode fiber patch cords or single mode fiber patch cords with MPO connectors.

There are many types of MPO connectors, but we can distinguish them based on the number of fiber cores (number of fiber arrays), polarity, male and female connectors, and end face type (PC or APC). In this blog, ETU-LINK will separately explain 

the knowledge of male and female connectors. In fact, the male and female heads can be distinguished from each other by their appearance. The male head clearly has two guide pins (PIN pins), while the female head does not. The connection between MPO connectors is precisely aligned through PIN pins, and the two MPO connectors connected to each other must be one male and one female.

Female connector is usually used in 40G/100G SR4 multi-mode parallel Optical module. Because the MPO interface of the Optical module uses male connector, it needs to use MPO female connector for connection. When connecting the 40G/100G SR4 multimode Optical module, we need to connect the 12 core MPO multimode OM3/OM4 optical fiber (polarity B).

The above is ETU-LINK's difference between male and female MPO connectors and how to use them. If need more information about the optical fiber patch cord and Optical module, can read the previous blogs to help you become an expert in the optical communication industry.