The Differences Between MPO and MTP

With the advent of MTP and MPO connectors, it has become common practice in the custom cable field to use these two acronyms interchangeably when referring to certain kinds of fiber optic cable. It is said that all MTP connectors are MPO connectors, however not all MPO connectors are MTP connectors. This article is intended to clarify the differences between the terms—MTP and MPO.

What are MPO Connector and MTP Connector?

The MPO connector is a frequently used abbreviation which stands for “muti-fiber push on” and refers to the family of fiber optic connectors used to connect or cross-connect equipment and cables with minimum attenuation and reflection. It is a multi-fiber connector which is standardized within the international regulatory framework (the ICE 61754-7 standard) and also the U.S. (TIA-604-5 standard). There are more than 100 different brands and styles of MPO cables on the market nowadays, each with different strengths, weakness and best-fit applications.

The term MTP is registered trademark of US Conec and is described as “a high performance MPO connector with multiple engineered product enhancements to improve optical and mechanical performance when compared to generic MPO connectors.” It means that MTP connectors are fully compatible and compliant with all MPO connectors standards, regulations, and requirements; however, they also have a number of other features that most generic MPO connectors do not possess. For example, MTP connectors have a removable housing allowing users to rework, re-polish, and scan the ferrule, as well as change the gender, even after assembly or in the field.

Differences Between MTP and MPO

The main difference between MTP and MPO is in relation to its optical and mechanical performance. The MTP connector features a ferrule float which will help improve physical contact and the MT ferrule can float inside the MTP to keep two mated ferrules maintaining contacting if you have overused about the cable, while generic MPO connector do not have the ferrule float feature. In addition, the MTP has a connector spring designed to maximum ribbon clearance and prevent fiber damage. The MTP has elliptical shaped guide pins which can reduce ferrule wear, while generic MPO connectors have chamfered shaped guide pins. The elliptical shaped does not chip the ferrule material being MPO’s chamfered guide pins. And it serves to reduce the amount of debris that may fall into the guide pin holes or on the ferrule end face. Furthermore, MTP connectors’ exceptionally dense fiber count, in relation to their relatively small footprint, makes them a popular choice in data centers that are actively trying to converse space. Their plug-and-play capabilities make them easy to install and efficient to operate.

Conclusion 

As technology still grows fast, MTP and MPO are used in many applications. However, MTP has a few functional improvement of MPO, so we used MTP a lot better than MPO in applications, like MTP cassettes that can allow for the fan-out of up to 24 connections, and MTP trunk cables that can be used as the backbone of a modern data center. Although MTP and MPO are not perfectly interchangeable, they are both inextricably linked as the industry grows.