FieldCast 4Core MM Ultra Light 100m on Drum Fiber Cable

Twisted-pair Ethernet is specified to a hundred metres end to end, patch leads included, and not a metre beyond. The FieldCast 4Core MM Ultra Light 100m covers exactly that distance in fibre optic cable, so it can take over the longest route a copper network standard allows while moving the ceiling for gigabit and 10-gigabit links out to a few hundred metres. A run that used to sit on the edge of its specification now has room for a detour.

Four blue rings mark the cable as 4Core multimode, and under its indoor-grade sheath lie four cores of OM3 50/125 multimode fibre rated for 2000 MHz·km of effective modal bandwidth at 850 nm. That wavelength matters, because it is the one used by the short-reach optics common to network switches, fibre KVM extenders and multimode video converters, so a network link from a gallery to a stage position calls for ordinary SR transceivers rather than specialist parts. The four cores give two bidirectional links, or four one-way feeds if each transmitter needs only a single fibre. All hundred metres come wound on a Schill GT310 drum.

Each end is fitted with the same male FieldCast 4Core MM connector, which is the only interface anywhere on the cable. A screw cap goes over the optical faces whenever a connector is unplugged, and the seal holds IP67 per EN 60529 both mated and capped, keeping floor dust and spilt coffee off the fibre ends. LC hardware enters only through the accessories: a two-metre adapter cable fans the four cores out to two LC pairs, a D-size chassis connector fits a 19-inch panel or flight case, and a 0.5 m coupler joins this drum to a second one if a route runs longer.

Jobs at this length tend to be indoor ones sitting just under the hundred-metre mark: a car launch in a dealership showroom with the production cabin in the workshop behind, a theatre relaying the show to screens in the foyer and bar, or a broadcaster opening a second set in the neighbouring studio and cutting it from the gallery it already has. Each of those routes would put a Cat cable at the limit of its standard; over four OM3 cores, the same distance is unremarkable.