LX/LH GBIC distance requirements

[admin_2]

We are interconnecting Cisco 6500 switches, 3524 switches and 4006 switches.

I saw on a cisco paper that when you go under 328feet and above 984 feet on 62.5 micron MMF you need to use a mode conditioning patch cord (CAB-GELX-625).

What happens if you don't use this patch cord? GBIC burns out, you get errors on the switch, line quality degredation?

[#2]

It is not recommend using the GBIC-LX/LH and MMF with no patch cord for very short link distance (tens of meters). The result could be an elevated bit error rate (BER).

When using the GBIC-LX/LH with 62.5-micron diameter MMF, you must install a mode-conditioning patch cord Product Number CAB-GELX-625 or equivalent) between the GBIC and the MMF cable on both the transmit and the receive ends of the link when link distances are greater than 984 ft (300 m).