Panduit FDSSA-24-10P 24-Fiber LC OM4+ FlexCore Splice Cassette
Overview
The Panduit FDSSA-24-10P is a 24-fiber front-access splice cassette engineered for deployment inside Panduit FlexCore ODF and OSF enclosures. It ships with LC duplex connectors on the front face and unterminated (bare) fiber on the rear, giving you full flexibility to splice in your own cable plant using either pre-terminated trunk cables or field-splice techniques. At just 11.7 mm tall (0.46 in), this cassette stacks into high-density panels without eating rack space — and with a 11.53-inch footprint (292.8 mm wide), it fills a standard FlexCore slot completely with no filler panels needed. If you're building or expanding a high-density OM4+ structured cabling backbone, the FDSSA-24-10P (often searched as FDSSA 24 10P) is the unit that closes the loop between the trunk and the active equipment.
Key Features
- 24 Fibers, LC Duplex Front Interface: Twenty-four fibers terminated to LC duplex connectors on the front panel means 12 duplex LC ports per cassette — enough to home-run a full 10GBase-SR switch blade or a 24-port SAN array without any fan-out harness in between. LC is the dominant small-form-factor connector for 10G/40G/100G OM4 applications, so compatibility with installed switch ports is not a concern.
- OM4+ (50 µm) Fiber: The 50-micron OM4+ glass exceeds base OM4 bandwidth-distance specs. On 10GBase-SR that translates to 550 m at full 10 Gbps — roughly twice the reach of OM3 at the same data rate. For 40G (QSFP+ SR4) and 100G (QSFP28 SR4) parallel-optic applications, OM4+ margin means fewer retransmissions and more stable link performance on longer intra-campus runs.
- Unterminated Rear Connectors: The unterminated rear exit is intentional — it lets you splice the cassette directly to the backbone cable plant rather than imposing a connector mating loss at the rear. Every connector interface adds 0.1–0.3 dB insertion loss; eliminating the rear connector preserves link budget on long or cascaded runs.
- Polycarbonate Construction: The cassette body is molded polycarbonate — lightweight and dimensionally stable under the thermal cycling typical in equipment rooms. Polycarbonate also resists cracking under the snap-fit installation forces used by FlexCore housings, which matters if you're repopulating a panel multiple times during moves/adds/changes.
- RoHS 2002/95/EC Compliant: Hazardous-substance compliance is required for EU import and procurement under many enterprise sustainability mandates. This is verified at the SKU level — no need to chase a separate compliance declaration for the FDSSA-24-10P.
- Multi-Standard Certification: The cassette is rated to ISO/IEC 11801, ANSI/TIA-568-C.3, TIA-604-5 (FOCIS-5), TIA-604-10 (FOCIS-10), and supports IEEE 802.3 and ANSI T11.2 (Fiber Channel). That last item matters in storage environments: FC SANs have stricter link-budget tolerances than Ethernet, and a cassette that explicitly meets T11.2 removes one audit point from your infrastructure compliance review.
- Low Profile, 0.46-Inch Height: At under half an inch tall, this cassette fits into FlexCore ODF/OSF panels without impacting adjacent cassette removal. High-density fiber management in 1U or 2U panels depends on zero-interference cassette geometry — this unit is designed for that.
- Carton Quantity of 10: Sold individually (package quantity 1), but available in 10-unit cartons — relevant when you're populating a full FlexCore panel or ordering for a multi-panel rollout. Ordering in carton quantity simplifies receiving and inventory control on large structured cabling projects.
Integration and Compatibility
The FDSSA-24-10P is purpose-built for Panduit's Panduit FlexCore ODF (Optical Distribution Frame) and OSF (Optical Splice Frame) enclosure family. It is not a universal-fit cassette — verify that your enclosure is a FlexCore-series chassis before ordering. The LC duplex front interface is compatible with any SFP+, SFP28, QSFP+ (with breakout), or QSFP28 transceiver using LC receptacles. The OM4+ fiber grade supports 10GBase-SR, 40GBase-SR4 (with appropriate fan-out), and 100GBase-SR4 applications per IEEE 802.3, making it a viable backbone component for fiber optic cassette deployments in data centers, campus distribution nodes, and high-density fiber optic enclosures. For Fiber Channel SAN connectivity, the cassette's explicit ANSI T11.2 rating satisfies the link-quality documentation that FC infrastructure audits typically require. Pair with compatible fiber optic trunk cables to complete the backbone segment. If you are designing a new FlexCore installation, consult Panduit's fiber optic systems portfolio to confirm enclosure slot count and cassette population limits before finalizing the BOM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What enclosures is the FDSSA-24-10P compatible with?
A: The FDSSA-24-10P is designed specifically for Panduit FlexCore ODF (Optical Distribution Frame) and OSF (Optical Splice Frame) enclosures. It is not a universal cassette — confirm your chassis is a FlexCore-series unit before ordering.
Q: What fiber type does the FDSSA-24-10P use, and what speeds does it support?
A: It uses 50-micron OM4+ multimode fiber, which supports 10GBase-SR up to 550 m, 40GBase-SR4, 100GBase-SR4, and Fiber Channel per ANSI T11.2. It is not suitable for single-mode (OS1/OS2) applications.
Q: Why does the FDSSA-24-10P have unterminated rear connectors instead of a pre-terminated rear?
A: The unterminated rear design allows direct splicing to the backbone cable plant, eliminating a rear-face connector mating that would otherwise add 0.1–0.3 dB insertion loss per connection. This preserves link budget on longer or cascaded runs.
Q: Is the FDSSA-24-10P RoHS compliant?
A: Yes. The FDSSA-24-10P is verified RoHS 2002/95/EC compliant at the SKU level, meeting EU hazardous-substance restrictions for procurement and import.
Q: How many LC duplex ports does the FDSSA-24-10P provide?
A: The cassette provides 24 fibers terminated to LC duplex connectors on the front face, which equals 12 duplex LC ports per cassette.
Q: What standards does the FDSSA-24-10P meet?
A: The FDSSA-24-10P meets ISO/IEC 11801, ANSI/TIA-568-C.3, TIA-604-5 (FOCIS-5), TIA-604-10 (FOCIS-10), RoHS 2002/95/EC, IEEE 802.3, and ANSI T11.2 (Fiber Channel).
The FDSSA-24-10P is one of those components that decides whether your FlexCore panel build lives or dies on link budget. The unterminated rear is the spec I always call out first — it's not a cost cut, it's an engineering decision. Every eliminated rear connector saves you up to 0.3 dB, and on a cascaded OM4+ run approaching 550 m at 10G, that margin is real. If you're populating a full FlexCore ODF with multiple cassettes, those fractions add up fast across 12 or 24 cassette slots.
Technical Highlights:
- OM4+ 50 µm Fiber: Exceeds base OM4 bandwidth-distance — 550 m at 10GBase-SR versus 300 m for OM3, giving you genuine headroom for intra-building or campus MDA-to-IDF runs without specifying single-mode prematurely.
- 12 Duplex LC Ports at 0.46 in Height: Twenty-four fibers in under half an inch of panel height is a meaningful density number — you can populate a 1U FlexCore chassis with multiple cassettes and still have room for cable management without pulling adjacent units to service one port.
- ANSI T11.2 / Fiber Channel Rating: Most OM4+ cassettes advertise Ethernet compliance only. The explicit T11.2 rating here means SAN infrastructure teams have a documented compliance hook for FC audits without needing a separate product qualification.
Deployment Considerations:
- This cassette is FlexCore-specific — it will not drop into competitor ODF chassis or generic 1U patch panels. If your enclosure is not a Panduit FlexCore ODF or OSF, you need a different product entirely; confirm the chassis model before committing to a bulk order.
- The unterminated rear means field splicing is required — factor in splice equipment availability and technician time on the installation schedule. If your project requires a fully pre-terminated solution on both ends, look at the pre-terminated cassette variants in the FlexCore family instead.
The FDSSA-24-10P is the right call for a FlexCore-based data center or campus distribution build where you're running OM4+ backbone trunks and want to absorb the splice at the cassette level rather than burning link budget on a rear-face connector. It's particularly well-suited to SAN-attached storage environments where the T11.2 compliance documentation shortens the infrastructure audit cycle.
