MPO-12/APC OS2 Single-Mode Trunk Cable, Type B, Female-to-Female — for NVIDIA DR-Class Optics

DR-class single-mode optics require APC. The UPC cords from your 100G or 200G fabric will not mate with them.

This is an MPO-12 trunk cable with angle-polished (APC) endfaces on OS2 9/125 single-mode fiber, built to the polarity and gender NVIDIA DR-class optics actually need: Type B crossover, female/unpinned on both ends, all 12 fibers terminated. Yellow jacket, green connector housings, OFNP plenum rated.

If your modules are single-mode DR-class — not the multimode SR4/SR8 parts — this is the cable.

APC vs UPC — read this before you order

An APC connector has an 8° angled endface. A UPC connector is flat. They cannot mate. Put them together and you get an air gap, an unusable return loss figure, and a link that either never comes up or comes up and drifts.

The 100G (4×25G NRZ) and 200G (4×50G PAM4) generations were overwhelmingly UPC. The NDR and XDR generations moved to APC. A customer upgrading an existing fabric does not carry their patch cords forward. This is the most common ordering mistake in an upgrade, and most supplier pages never mention it.

How to tell at a glance: a green connector housing means APC — NVIDIA's own module documentation describes the MPO-12/APC interface as having a green plastic shell. The jacket color tells you the fiber type — yellow is single-mode — not the endface. Two different things, and easy to conflate. Jacket colors also vary between manufacturers; the connector housing is the reliable answer.

Key orientation: key-up to key-down

The industry shorthand "Type B means key-up to key-up" is a UPC rule, and it does not transfer to APC. Two 8° angled endfaces have to be complementary to seat, so an APC Type B assembly mates key-up to key-down — Modified Method B, a Type B cable through Type A (key-up/key-down) adapters.

This cable is built key-up to key-down, confirmed in writing by the manufacturer. It is worth checking whatever else you are buying: it is not unusual to find a part listed as APC and "female key-up to female key-up" on the same page, which cannot physically mate.

Fully terminated 12-fiber — and why that is a feature

All twelve positions are terminated in a Type B crossover: position 1 lands on position 12, 2 on 11, and so on across the connector.

A DR4 module uses four lanes in each direction. NVIDIA's own MFP7E30 single-mode cable is built with eight fibers populated — positions 1–4 and 9–12, with 5–8 left unconnected — because that is all a DR4 link needs. Ours terminates all twelve. In a DR4 link the two are interchangeable: the module's four transmit positions land on the far end's four receive positions either way, and the extra pairs simply carry no traffic.

The difference shows up later. A fully terminated assembly can be re-tested end to end, can carry a different lane map if you repurpose it, and does not leave you guessing which positions were populated when a link goes marginal two years from now.

Single-mode is not a speed bump

The DR-class generation moved from SR/multimode to DR/single-mode. That is a change to your fiber plant, not just a faster module. A multimode cable will not substitute for this one regardless of endface, and an OM4 cable in a DR4 port fails differently from an APC/UPC mismatch — it will look like a loss problem rather than a mating problem, and you will spend an afternoon on it.

Which one do I need?

Twin-port rule: both ports on a twin-port module must run the same fiber type. Do not mix.

Technical specifications

Pricing by length

Volume: 10 or more of any one length, 10% off. 25 or more, 18% off. Quoted at checkout or on a pod quote.

Good to know

• Female/unpinned is correct. NVIDIA's single-mode DR-class modules carry the alignment pins; the fiber connector carries the matching holes. Pinned MPO connectors belong on permanent-link backbone cabling that lands in a patch panel, not on the cable that plugs into an optic.
• OFNP, not riser. This cable is plenum-rated. NVIDIA's own MFP7E30 single-mode assemblies are specified LSZH-OFNR — riser. If your run crosses a plenum air-handling space, OFNR is not code-compliant and OFNP is.
• The connectors are the loss budget. At data-center distances single-mode fiber contributes almost nothing to attenuation. Nearly all of your loss is in the mated pairs, which is why low-loss grade matters far more here than length does.
• Reach is generous; junctions are not. DR-class single-mode modules are rated to 500 m, so at patch-cable lengths distance is not your constraint. Every additional MPO mating in the path is, and a link with several patch-panel hops eats budget quickly. Count junctions, not meters.

Quick checklist — is this the right cable?

Your optics are DR-class and take MPO-12/APC. Your fiber plant is single-mode (OS2). You need a straight cable, not a 1:2 splitter. Your run still fits its loss budget with the connector junctions in the path.

Availability

In stock at Resilient Tec in all six lengths.

Shipped from Knoxville, Tennessee. Free standard shipping on all US orders, no minimum. Populating a pod? Tell us your node count and module part numbers and we will quote the cables and the optics together. Request a quote →

Warranty: lifetime, backed by Resilient Tec — not a manufacturer term. When something fails you reach a named seller in Knoxville, not a ticket queue.

You might also need

• 400G OSFP DR4 (MMS4X00-NS400) — the NIC-side module this cable plugs into, one cable per module
• 800G OSFP 2×DR4 twin-port (MMS4X00-NM) — the switch-side module, two cables per module
• MPO-12/APC OM4 multimode trunk cable — the multimode equivalent, for SR4/SR8 modules
• NVIDIA OSFP part-number crosswalk — confirm whether your module is single-mode DR or multimode SR before you order fiber for it
• Transceivers — the rest of the optics catalog
• OSFP DAC cables — for in-rack runs where copper is the better answer than fiber