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Accepted
romandas
Asked: 2009-07-02 06:42:44 +0800 CST

Are there any vendors making a Gigabit Fiber solution for laptops?

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I'm trying to build a laptop system that can connect to just about any network you might come across in a large enterprise. I realize I can use a media converter to go from twisted pair to fiber but prefer to have a NIC instead of a converter.

Is there a vendor out there that actually makes a gigabit ethernet fiber adapter for laptops?

Edit: A year after I asked this question, apparently Allied Telesis came out with the AT-2872SX ExpressCard which has an SC connector for Gigabit Ethernet. See syneticon-dj's answer below.

gigabit-ethernet laptop fiber

6 Answers

  1. Why stop at gigabit?

    This device allows you to connect a pci express 16x card using an external box and the laptop's expresscard/34 slot.

    Now you put a 10gig card with sfp+, like one of these, into that.

    While you're at it, grab a couple of passive fiber taps.

    Now you've got a box that allows you to snoop any link you may encounter short of a sonet link, though I wouldn't be surprised if there were pci express oc12/oc48/oc192 cards out there.

    Your clients will be very impressed when you pull these out of your padded aluminum briefcase.

    You didn't mention you needed it to be cheap...

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  2. Best Answer

    At least Allied Telesis has the AT-2872SX ExpressCard which has an SC connector for Gigabit Ethernet. I do not think I've ever seen a model with SFP/GBIC slots.

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  3. Yes.

    http://www.google.com/search?btnG=Google+Search&q=fiber+pcmcia+card

    hmmm.

    Sorry, I'm only bringing up 100base cards. Still looking.

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  4. Your best bet might be using an actual media converter. I came upon this one while searching for MCs a while ago, looks like it's USB powered (which might be a good compromise for mobility): alt text

    https://www.omnitron-systems.com/products/1220_miconverter_gxt.php

    Unfortunately, I know nothing else about this product (nor the company)

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  5. Apparently, as of today (07 Aug 2009), I'm concluding there are no Gigabit Fiber solutions (no CardBus, PCMCIA, Internal, etc) out there for laptops. If this changes, I'll change the accepted answer.

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  6. Lots. Do a Web search for "PCMCIA gigabit ethernet fiber"

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