Insertion loss is the primary performance parameter that defines the ability of a fiber optic link to support a given application. As data transmission speeds have increased, insertion loss requirements have become more stringent, and staying within loss budgets is an increasing concern among data center designers. While traditional MPO-to-LC cassettes used in popular pre-terminated plug-and-play fiber connectivity systems facilitate a faster, easier deployment, both the MPO and the LC connection have associated insertion loss that can put a strain on loss budgets and limit the number of connections within a channel. This performance study compares the insertion loss results of fiber links using traditional plug-and-play cassettes to fiber links using HDReadyLink™ trunks that feature an integrated hard-wired cassette that eliminates the MPO connection and its associated insertion loss. By lowering insertion loss, data center designers have more headroom that ensures high-performance low-latency data transmission and enables reliability, flexibility and scalability.