TIA/EIA-785
TIA/EIA-785: Short Wavelength Fast Ethernet Standard
100 Mbps Fast Ethernet over 850 nm optics is supported by the ANSI/TIA/EIA-785 standard, ratified in May 2001. This standard, also known as short wavelength Fast Ethernet, or 100BASE-SX, offers users a simple, clear and inexpensive upgrade path from 10 Mb/s to 100Mb/s. It also offers the potential to significantly reduce the cost of fiber LAN electronics by utilizing less-expensive short wavelength opto-electronic devices. The standard is available to purchase online from Global Engineering by calling 1-800-854-7179 (U.S. and Canada), outside the U.S. at 1-303-397-7956. Also, you can read more about the approval in this June 11, 2001, press release.
TIA/EIA-785 Addendum issued April 2003
A recently completed addendum to TIA/EIA-785 Short Wavelength Fast Ethernet Standard makes it possible to further reduce horizontal cabling costs for multimode fiber networks. The addendum removes the receiver bandwidth specification, eliminating unwarranted limitations in transceiver designs and potentially expanding available transceiver and manufacturer choices. Since transceivers are one of the most expensive components in a fiber port, this addendum should enable network managers to lower the costs of their fiber based systems.
The bandwidth specification was removed after the F.O. 4.2 working group (formerly F.O. 2.2) performed extensive simulation and link testing and determined that the receiver bandwidth specification was technically redundant with the specification for stressed receive sensitivity.
Additional information on TIA/EIA-785:
A New Standard Lowers the Cost of Fiber-to-the-Desktop & Fiber-to-the-Home, by John Struhar, Lucent Technologies, Inc. (2.3MB PDF file - presentation from the Spring BICSI Conference in Las Vegas on May 8 regarding the 100BASE-SX standard.)
Read our White Paper, "100BASE-SX Fast Ethernet: A Cost Effective Migration Path for Fiber in the Horizontal" February 2000
Additional Standards Information
The TIA FO-4 Engineering Committee on Fiber Optics is responsible for the development and maintenance of fiber optic component, sub-system, system, and network technology standards.
IHS Global Engineering Documents sells published standards, and you can perform a detailed search or check project statuses on TIA's site.
Cost Model
Hierarchical Star, Centralized Cabling or Fiber-to-the-Telecom Enclosure -- which architecture is best for your installation?
Find out with the FOLS Cost Model.
This interactive cost model is a tool that helps you compare the installed first costs of several standards-compliant architectures using fiber and copper cabling. The Cost Model lets you input your own data to most accurately allow you to compare different media choices.