Patent ID: 8911158

Claim:
A Z-pluggable optical communications module (OCM) comprising: a generally rectangular housing, the module housing being configured to be inserted through an opening formed in a front panel of a box in a Z-direction of an X, Y, Z Cartesian Coordinate system, wherein the box houses an optical communications system; a first printed circuit board (PCB) disposed within the housing; a plurality of parallel optical communications modules (POCMs) mounted on the first PCB, each POCM having a plurality of channels, each of the channels being either a transmit channel for transmitting optical data signals or a receive channel for receiving optical data signals; first ends of optical fibers of a plurality of groups of optical fibers of at least one optical fiber cable, the first ends of the optical fibers of each group being connected to a respective one of the POCMs, wherein the first ends are received into the housing through an opening formed in a first end of the housing; and a strain relief device, the strain relief device comprising a plurality of wires disposed on an upper surface of said at least one optical fiber cable with a first end of the plurality of wires coupled to said at least one optical fiber cable with a clamp and a second end of the plurality of wires coupled to the first end of the housing.