Panduit FC2WA-24-10B1 Opticom 24-Fiber OM5 MPO-12 to LC Duplex Cassette

The Panduit FC2WA-24-10B1 is a pre-terminated 24-fiber OM5 breakout cassette delivering MPO-12 male backbone connectivity to twelve LC duplex access ports in a single-RU polycarbonate housing. Designed for high-density datacenter main distribution areas (MDA) and horizontal distribution areas (HDA), this cassette eliminates field splicing and provides plug-and-play migration from 10G to 40G, 100G, and emerging 400G short-reach applications. OM5 wideband multimode fiber supports 100GBASE-SR4 at 150 meters and extends future 400G SWDM4 reach compared to OM3/OM4, making this cassette a future-proof structured cabling backbone component for spine-leaf architectures, storage area networks, and converged Ethernet/Fibre Channel fabrics. Factory-terminated and insertion-loss tested to TIA-568 and IEC 61754 standards, the FC2WA-24-10B1 ships ready for immediate deployment in temperature-controlled environments up to 75°C operating.

Key Features

• 24-fiber OM5 50/125 μm wideband multimode — supports 100GBASE-SR4 at 150m, 40GBASE-SR4 at 150m, and future 400G SWDM4 short-reach applications with extended wavelength performance over legacy OM3/OM4
• MPO-12 male trunk interface to twelve LC duplex ports — standard breakout architecture for spine-to-leaf, backbone-to-access, and storage-fabric tiering in modern datacenter topologies
• Pre-terminated and factory-tested — eliminates field splicing, fusion equipment, and labor; each cassette ships with insertion loss verified to ≤0.35 dB per TIA-568.3-D and polarity validated for immediate plug-and-play deployment
• Single-RU polycarbonate housing — high-impact black enclosure mounts in standard 19-inch racks, fiber enclosures, or high-density panel systems; integrates with Panduit's modular cassette infrastructure for scalable MDA/HDA builds
• OM5 wideband certification (ISO/IEC 11801-1 Class OM5) — lime-green jacketed fiber optimized for 850–950 nm short-wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM), enabling four wavelengths per fiber for 40G/100G/400G over fewer strands and reduced panel density
• Method B polarity (Type B) — MPO key-up on trunk, straight-through pin assignments deliver transmit-to-receive mapping compliant with TIA-568-C.0 Annex A for base-12 and base-24 duplex applications
• Low-profile LC duplex connectors — industry-standard ceramic ferrule single-mode/multimode compatible footprint, fits all LC adapter panels and switch transceivers without adapter replacement or field modification
• Bend-insensitive fiber construction — meets IEC 60793-2-10 Type A1a.3 macrobend loss limits at 7.5 mm and 15 mm radius, protecting optical performance in high-density routing and slack management within 1U cassette depth
• RoHS and REACH compliant — halogen-free materials meet EU directives for restricted substances and datacenter sustainability requirements
• Ten-pack carton packaging — reduces per-port cost for large datacenter builds and ensures consistent lot production for multi-row deployments requiring polarity and insertion-loss matching

The FC2WA-24-10B1 addresses the central structured cabling challenge in modern hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise datacenters: delivering scalable 40/100G backbone capacity to high-density 10/25G leaf switches or storage arrays while preserving panel space and future-proofing for 400G migration. Traditional field-spliced fiber terminations introduce variability, delay, and certification overhead; factory pre-terminated cassettes compress installation schedules from days to hours and eliminate the need for fusion-splicing technicians on-site. The MPO-12 male trunk interface mates directly with MPO-12 female backbone cables running between rows or floors, while the twelve LC duplex ports break out to individual server, switch, or storage targets. This 1:12 fanout architecture is the de facto standard for spine-leaf Clos fabrics (Cisco ACI, Arista, Juniper QFX) and converged SAN/LAN designs where a single 100G QSFP28 or QSFP56 spine port fans out to twelve 10G or 25G SFP28 leaf ports. OM5's wideband capability becomes critical in these topologies: 100GBASE-SR4 over OM5 delivers 150-meter reach vs. 100 meters over OM4, often the difference between making a cross-building link budget and requiring costly singlemode conversion. For greenfield 400G planning, OM5 supports SWDM4 (four wavelengths over a single duplex pair) at distances OM4 cannot sustain, deferring trunk cable replacement for years. The polycarbonate housing is engineered for repeated moves/adds/changes—LC connectors can be inserted and extracted 500+ times per TIA-568.3-D durability testing—making this cassette suitable for dynamic compute environments where port assignments shift quarterly. The black housing color aligns with multimode fiber convention (orange or aqua cables terminate to black panels) and simplifies visual infrastructure audits.

Deployment context: In a typical two-tier spine-leaf datacenter, FC2WA-24-10B1 cassettes populate high-density fiber enclosures at the top-of-rack (leaf) or end-of-row (spine) location. A 144-fiber MPO-12 trunk cable enters the enclosure from the building backbone and terminates to twelve FC2WA-24-10B1 cassettes (12 MPO-12 connectors × 24 fibers each = 288 fibers total, fully utilizing two 144F trunks). Each cassette's twelve LC duplex ports patch directly to switch QSFP28-SR4 breakout cables or to discrete SFP+ transceivers, delivering 12 duplex connections per RU. This configuration supports 100G spine uplinks or 10/25G leaf server connections with zero field splicing and full TIA-568 channel certification out of the box. For storage area networks, the same cassette architecture maps to 32G/64G Fibre Channel director switches, where a single MPO-12 trunk from the SAN core breaks out to twelve duplex LC ports serving individual initiators or targets. The OM5 specification is particularly valuable in mixed-speed SAN fabrics: legacy 16G FC links and new 32G/64G FC links coexist over the same fiber infrastructure, with OM5's extended modal bandwidth ensuring insertion loss margins remain within FC-PI-6 link budgets even after multiple connector mating cycles or decades of dust accumulation. The cassette's Method B polarity (straight-through MPO pinout) is Panduit's standard for base-12 duplex applications and matches the majority of OEM switch breakout cables; always verify polarity method before ordering if integrating with existing non-Panduit infrastructure or Cisco-style Method A (key-up/key-down) deployments.

The FC2WA-24-10B1 ships with manufacturer warranty and meets TIA-568.3-D, ISO/IEC 11801-1, and IEC 61754-7 (MPO) international standards for commercial building fiber distribution. Its OM5 certification and pre-tested insertion loss make it the deterministic choice for integrators required to deliver TIA channel compliance without field OTDR testing—critical when project specifications mandate third-party certification before final acceptance. The ten-pack carton format is specifically sized for mid-scale datacenter builds (120 duplex ports per carton) and reduces packaging waste compared to individually boxed cassettes, a procurement advantage for multi-tenant colocation providers or enterprise IT teams managing 500+ port deployments per quarter. Unlike generic offshore cassettes often sold through non-authorized channels, Panduit factory-terminated assemblies include full serialization, test reports in every carton, and supply-chain traceability to the fiber spool batch—essential for projects requiring FAT/SAT documentation or long-term sparing records. For installations requiring plenum rating, pair this cassette with Panduit's OFNP-rated MPO trunk cables; the cassette housing itself is designed for equipment-room or controlled-environment vault use and does not carry plenum certification.