Panduit FHCWA-12-10AS OM5 MPO-LC Cassette

Panduit FHCWA-12-10AS HD Flex™ OM5 Fiber Cassette

The Panduit FHCWA-12-10AS is a high-density fiber optic cassette engineered for datacenter and enterprise networks migrating to wideband multimode OM5 infrastructure. This cassette breaks out a single 12-fiber MPO-12 male trunk connection into six LC duplex ports, delivering 50μm OM5 fiber performance in Panduit's field-swappable HD Flex™ platform. Method A polarity with PI Ultra configuration ensures straight-through connectivity compatible with TIA-568 structured cabling standards, eliminating polarity mismatches that plague field-terminated MPO deployments. The black polycarbonate housing integrates into Panduit's modular cassette-based patch panels and enclosures, providing a pre-terminated, factory-tested solution that reduces installation time and field termination failures on 40GBASE-SR4, 100GBASE-SR4, and emerging short-wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) applications.

Key Features

• 12-fiber OM5 cassette: one MPO-12 male input to six LC duplex outputs for high-density breakout
• Method A polarity (straight-through) with PI Ultra pinout for TIA-568 compliance
• OM5 wideband multimode fiber supports 40G/100G today, SWDM 400G/800G tomorrow
• HD Flex™ modular platform: field-swappable cassettes for rapid moves/adds/changes
• Factory-terminated and tested: eliminates field termination errors and reduces labor cost
• Black polycarbonate housing with 50μm fiber diameter for mechanical durability

OM5 fiber represents the current apex of multimode technology, engineered specifically for short-wavelength division multiplexing that transmits multiple wavelengths (850nm, 880nm, 910nm, 940nm) simultaneously over a single fiber pair. While OM4 fiber supports 100GBASE-SR4 at 100 meters, OM5 maintains that reach while adding headroom for 4-lane and 8-lane SWDM protocols that will power next-generation 200G, 400G, and 800G switch fabrics. For datacenter operators planning 5–10 year infrastructure lifecycles, OM5 cassettes like the FHCWA-12-10AS future-proof trunk pathways without requiring re-cabling when optics evolve. The 50μm core diameter matches OM3/OM4 backwards compatibility, so existing 10G/40G transceivers continue to operate while you stage hardware upgrades around budget cycles.

The HD Flex cassette architecture solves a persistent problem in high-density fiber deployments: inflexible trunk-to-horizontal breakout. Traditional fusion-spliced fanout kits lock you into a fixed port count and connector type—if a port fails or you need to migrate from LC to MPO, you're re-splicing. Panduit's cassette system uses pre-terminated MPO trunks on the backside and user-facing LC duplex ports on the front, with the cassette itself functioning as the breakout adapter. Each cassette slides into an HD Flex panel or enclosure and clicks into place without tools, so swapping a 12-fiber MPO-to-LC cassette for a 24-fiber MPO-to-LC cassette (or an LC-to-SC cassette for legacy compatibility) takes under 60 seconds. This modularity is critical when you're managing blade server refreshes, top-of-rack switch migrations, or multi-tenant colocation environments where port types change quarterly.

Method A polarity is the TIA-568 straight-through standard: position 1 on the MPO connector maps to position 1 on the far end, position 12 to position 12. The FHCWA-12-10AS uses PI Ultra pinout, where the MPO-12 male connector's Pin 1 aligns to the key-up orientation, and the LC duplex breakout follows transmit/receive pair assignments per ANSI/TIA-568.3-D. This means if you're connecting to a switch with MPO-12 female ports configured Method A, the cassette provides a direct key-up to key-up trunk with no polarity flips required—the LC duplex ports on the cassette front present TX on fiber 1, RX on fiber 2 for port 1; TX on fiber 3, RX on fiber 4 for port 2, and so on. This eliminates the confusion around which trunk cable type to use (Type A, Type B, or Type C) that generates 30% of fiber support tickets in large deployments. If your infrastructure already runs Method B (cross-over polarity), you'll need the corresponding FHCWB-series cassette; mixing Method A and Method B cassettes in the same trunk will result in no-link conditions.

Datacenter and telecom installers choose pre-terminated cassette systems over field termination for three reasons: speed, reliability, and density. Field-terminating a 12-fiber MPO connector requires an $8,000 MPO polishing fixture, 45 minutes of labor per connector, and a 15% re-work rate even for experienced techs (MPO endface geometry is unforgiving—any fiber protrusion over 50nm causes insertion loss spikes). The FHCWA-12-10AS ships factory-terminated with automated polishing and interferometric endface inspection, guaranteeing <0.35 dB insertion loss and <-50 dB return loss per TIA-568.3-D limits. Installation is plug-and-play: run your 12-fiber MPO trunk cable (Panduit's FXTYP series or equivalent) from your switch to the patch panel, insert the trunk into the cassette's rear MPO-12 female port, click the cassette into the panel, and patch your horizontal LC cables on the front. A 288-fiber deployment that would take two techs three days to fusion-splice now takes one tech four hours to click cassettes and dress cables.

The black polycarbonate housing provides mechanical protection for the internal fiber fanout and LC adapter modules. Polycarbonate resists impact better than ABS (common in budget cassettes), critical when cassettes are handled during MAC operations or when adjacent cassettes are inserted/removed in densely packed 4U enclosures holding 144+ LC ports. The cassette faceplate includes label windows compatible with Panduit's LS8E label printer and adhesive port ID tags, essential for maintaining ANSI/TIA-606-C administration standards in multi-tenant or cross-connect environments. Each cassette ships as a single unit (package quantity: 1) in cartons of 10, with UPC 61305632034 for inventory and procurement tracking.

This cassette integrates into Panduit's HD Flex ecosystem, including the FHD1U19 1U 19-inch panel (holds 4 cassettes / 24 LC duplex ports), the FHD4U splice enclosure (holds 16 cassettes / 96 LC duplex ports), and the FMS6 modular mounting system for wall-mount or rack-mount flexibility. If you're building out a new OM5 backbone, pair these cassettes with Panduit's MPO trunk cables (FXTYP12-X series for OM5, with MTP® brand connectors), Opti-Core LC duplex patch cords (F92010-X series OM5 rated), and the NetKey cable management accessories to meet TIA's 6-inch bend radius minimums for OM5 fiber. For 40GBASE-SR4 applications, each cassette supports two 40G QSFP+ ports (each QSFP+ uses 4 fibers / 2 LC duplex ports); for 100GBASE-SR4, each cassette supports one 100G QSFP28 port (using all 12 fibers / 6 LC duplex ports on breakout transceivers).

OM5 fiber is specified per ISO/IEC 11801-1 and TIA-568.3-D for minimum 3,300 MHz·km effective modal bandwidth at 850nm (same as OM4), with extended bandwidth at 950nm to support SWDM wavelengths. This translates to 100-meter reach for 100GBASE-SR4, and when paired with SWDM optics, up to 100 meters for 400G-SR4.2 (4-wavelength SWDM over 2 fibers). For campus backbone applications connecting IDFs to MDF over 200–300 meter spans, OM5 extends multimode viability into distances that previously required single-mode fiber and more expensive LR optics. The lime green or aqua OM5 cable jacket color-codes distinctly from OM3's aqua and OM4's magenta/violet, reducing cross-patching errors during maintenance windows.

The FHCWA-12-10AS is tested and certified to meet TIA-568.3-D for OM5 multimode fiber, IEC 61754-7 for MPO connector performance, and UL 94V-0 flammability rating for plenum enclosure installations. Panduit's quality system is ISO 9001 certified, and cassettes ship with serialized test reports documenting insertion loss and return loss for each fiber pair. Manufacturer warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship.