Fibre cables need to have connectors fitted before they can attach to other equipment. Pigtails and fanout kits are two different solutions to terminate the fibre with connectors.
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A fibre pigtail is a single short, usually unbuffered, optical fibre that has an optical connector on one end and a length of exposed fibre at the other end.
The end of the pigtail is stripped and fusion spliced to a single fibre of a multi-fibre trunk to break out the multi-fibre cable into its component fibres for connection to the end equipment.
Pigtails can have female connectors and be mounted in a patch panel, often in pairs although single-fibre solutions exist, to allow them to be connected to endponts or other fibre runs with patch fibres. Alternatively they can have male connectors and plug directly into an optical transceiver.[1]
A fanout kit is a set of empty jackets designed to protect the fragile tight buffered strands of fibre cables that require individual termination without splicing any fibre pigtail or needing to mount any protective enclosure. This is normally an option with fibre distribution cable, or sometimes loose buffer or ribbon cable, because these types of cable contain multiple strands that are designed for a permanent termination.
Zip-cord style jackets, including those that contain Aramid yarn as the strength member, can be slipped over usually multiple fibre strands coming out of a loose buffer cable to convert it to a complete set of single-fibre cables that directly attach optical connectors. A plastic boot is normally used for strain relief and protection from moisture. Use of a breakout kit enables a fibre-optic cable containing multiple loose buffer tubes to receive connectors without the splicing of pigtails.[2][3]
Splice box