1000BASE-X

1000BASE-X

The 1000BASE-X standard is an umbrella term that used in the telecom industry to denote gigabit Ethernet transmissions that run over fiber.

The standards that apply to the term 1000BASE-X include 1000BASE-LX, 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-BX10 1000BASE-LX10, as well as non-standard -ZX and -EX standards.The range of lengths for 1000BASE-X starts at a minimum of 25 meters for copper wires and a maximum of 70 km in the case of a single-mode optic fiber channel.

All of the standards that are grouped at 1000BASE-Xutilize a 8b/10b encoding where 8 bits are reserved for data transmission while 2 bits are used for error correction. Below are brief explanations of some of the standards that are grouped under the 1000BASE-X standard.

  • 1000BASE-SX

1000BASE-SX is a gigabit Ethernet fiber optic standard used in operating multi-mode fiber that uses a 770 – 860 nanometer near infrared (NIR) light wavelength.

1000BASE-SX standard has a minimum length of 220 meters and a maximum of 550 meters and is widely used for intra-building links for large office spaces.

  • 1000BASE-LX

1000BASE-LX is a gigabit Ethernet fiber optic standard which has a working distance of up to 5 km over single-mode optic fiber.

1000BASE-LX can also be used to transmit data over common multi-mode fiber options in which case it has a maximum length of 550 meters.

  • 1000BASE-LX10

1000BASE-LX10 is similar to 1000BASE-LX in use and characteristics however the major difference is that 1000BASE-LX10 is able to achieve much longer working distances of up to 10 km when transmitted over a single-mode optic fiber pair. This is largely due to the higher quality of fiber optics used.

  • 1000BASE-EX

1000BASE-EX is one of the non-standard mediums that are still used in the industry despite being non-standard. Like the other 1000BASE-X standards, this is a gigabit Ethernet standard that is capable of data transmissions on working distances of up to 40 km over a single-mode optic fiber pair.

For this reason, the 1000BASE-EX is sometimes called LH meaning Long Haul.

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