The FOM-5400 is a 4 channel multiplexer that provides electrical-to-opticalconversions for T/E carrier communications. The card has four RJ-48C’s and one fiber optic transceiver. The card is transparent to all Alternate MarkInversion signaling regardless of the specific line encoding such as B8ZS, B6ZS,and HDB3. Each channel is independent of one another and may be operated at different data rates up to 8.448 Mbps.

The FOM-4815 also has a switch setting that makes it backwards compatible with the TMX-4815. It has improved sampling jitter over the TMX-4815 and incorporates an automatic detection capability on the RJ-48C’s, which allow users to use either a straight or crossover cable for all network configurations.

In addition, the FOM-5400 offers much longer transmission distances than traditional Cat5 cabling. The distance limitations for both T1 and E1 as specified in ANSI T1.403 is 6200ft (1890m) for T1 and 4800ft (1460m) for E1. However, singlemode optics on the card can extend the distance up to 15km, 40km, or 80km. A typical link consists of two FOM-5400, one at each end of the network with fiber optic cables between them.