Development of a small MT ferrule for Senko Advance’s SN®-MT connector
- Promoting the practical use of next-generation high density optical connectivity at data centers -

March 3, 2022

  • In collaboration with Senko Advance, Furukawa Electric develops, manufactures and sells a small MT ferrule for Senko Advance’s SN®-MT connector.
  • The SN®-MT connector realizes more than 2.7 times higher density over the conventional MPO connector, and widespread use is expected.
  • Prototype of the small MT ferrule will be exhibited at OFC 2022 in the United States.

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. (Head office: 2-6-4 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Keiichi Kobayashi) collaborates with Senko Advance Co., Ltd. (2-5-23 Nakagawara, Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture; President: Ryosuke Okura) to develop, manufacture and sell a small MT ferrule for Senko Advance’s SN®-MT connector, a next-generation small multi-fiber connector that enables high density optical connectivity. Through this new development, we will realize next-generation high density optical connectivity and promote its practical use in data centers.

Background

Following the rapid data traffic growth, data centers need to expand their optical fiber network capacity more quickly, and at the same time, increasing the density of the optical fiber connections is also a pressing need as fiber count increases. Because of the limitation of the density by existing MPO connectors, realization of higher density is strongly required through small multi-fiber connectors.

Details

Furukawa Electric works with Senko Advance to develop, manufacture and sell a small MT ferrule for Senko Advance’s SN®-MT connector, a next-generation small multi-fiber connector. With the SN®-MT connector, more than 2.7 times higher density over the existing MPO connector can be realized. We plan to start shipping samples of the newly developed 8-fiber and 16-fiber small MT ferrule from April, and we will also exhibit a prototype at the OFS booth during OFC 2022 scheduled to be held in San Diego during March 8–10. The MT ferrule for the 16-fiber SN®-MT connector has a fiber pitch of 200µm, making it easy to use with our 16-fiber rollable ribbon, and in combination with ultra-high fiber count cable (3456-fiber, 6912-fiber, etc.), very small pre-connectorized cable terminal can be realized. We will promote the product to the market in collaboration with Senko Advance.

SN®-MT connector: Senko Advanced Components

Furukawa Electric Group’s efforts towards the SDGs

Based on the “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” adopted by the United Nations, the Furukawa Electric Group has formulated the “Furukawa Electric Group Vision 2030” which sets the year 2030 as its target and is advancing efforts with the aim to “Build a sustainable world and make people’s life safe, peaceful and rewarding, Furukawa Electric Group will create solutions for the new generation of global infrastructure combining information, energy and mobility.” Toward the achievement of our Vision 2030, we will take open, agile, and innovative approaches to promote ESG management that that aims to increase corporate value over the medium to long term and will contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.