company news about Fiber Optic Patch Cord and Pigtails, What's the difference

The Core Difference:

Fiber Optic Patch Cord: A finished, double-ended cable with connectors on both ends. It's used to connect two devices or components.

Fiber Optic Pigtail: A short, single-ended cable with a connector on only one end. The other end is bare fiber, which is spliced to a permanent cable run.

Think of it like this:

A Patch Cord is like an extension cord—ready to plug and play.

A Pigtail is like a raw wire with a plug on one end—you have to splice the raw wire to your house wiring first.

How a Pigtail is Used (The Termination Point)
The pigtail is the critical link between the fragile, permanent installation and the user-friendly connection point.

1. A long, rugged backbone cable is run through walls or conduits.
2. This cable ends at a patch panel or splice tray.
3. The bare fibers from the backbone are fusion spliced to the bare fibers of the pigtails.
4. The connectorized ends of the pigtails are then mounted into a adapter panel inside the patch panel.
5. This creates a neat, organized array of ports (like an electrical outlet) for easy connection.
6. Pigtails are for "making the outlet."

How a Patch Cord is Used (The Connection)
The patch cord is what you use every day to make connections.

• You have a patch panel full of ports (created by the pigtails).
• You have network equipment like a switch or a server with SFP transceivers.
• You use a patch cord to plug a port on the patch panel into a port on the switch.
• Another patch cord might connect the server to another port on the same switch.
• Patch cords are for "plugging devices into the outlets."