10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) has been the standard in data centers, enterprises, and service providers for years, and 10 GbE over fiber has become the normal physical medium to deliver these speeds in “sterile environments.” Now, however, applications such as video, LiDAR and sensors are driving the need to deploy 10 Gb Ethernet data speeds on field-deployed mobile military platforms.
Fiber is, indeed, a desirable connection to deliver these speeds, yet it is often considered fragile, pricey, and sometimes temperamental to install in the “clean” environments. Trying to deploy enterprise-grade fiber connections in frantic, mobile, messy field environments creates a scenario that is costly, unreliable, and quite honestly, a pain to maintain in the field.
Today, Techaya released the MILTECH 9116, which, once again, shows how much Techaya understands the demand of mobile military environments. The MILTECH 9116 is equipped with 12 x 10 GbE copper ports bound in three connectors and comes with an option to add 2 or 4 x 10 GbE fiber ports through two rugged, MIL-DTL 83526/20 & /21 TacBeam connectors. This provides 10 GbE copper ports for shorter-distanced connections and 10 GbE fiber ports via tactical expanded beam connectors for longer-distanced connections. The combination of inexpensive copper connections on 12 ports and the ability to add TacBeam connectors for up to 4 ports of additional fiber, make the MILTECH 9116 one of the most cost-effective, easy-to-manage, rugged 10 GbE switch/routers on the market today.
For those of you not familiar with TacBeam connectors, they use expanded beam technology to expand and collimate the optical signal through the connector to enlarge the diameter of the original beam. The optical beam is then refocused into the core of the receiving fiber to create a larger beam diameter that improves insertion loss performance, even when dust and debris are present. Also, because the lenses do not physically contact each other, there is no wear on the termini, allowing the connector to be mated and demated thousands of times without affecting optical performance. Soldiers can literally blow on and wipe off a connector and mate it with the MILTECH 9116 out in the field.
The combination of rugged copper and rugged fiber connectors makes the MILTECH 9116 a great, affordable solution that is easy to deploy and maintain out in the field.
Let us know if we can help you answer any questions about your 10 GbE application needs. We’re here to help.
