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Is there a way to essentially replace several dedicated Ethernet cables with a single fiber-optic cable?

My home setup is such that my two PCs are located in the basement, and the KVM in my office on the second floor (two floors above the PCs), basically about 80-90' (25 m) away by cable run. This is because the PCs generate too much heat, making the office really warm in the summer. I have run a number of Ethernet cables from the basement to the office to be able to work this way.

#1 PC1 HDMI+USB over Ethernet extender (4K)

#2 PC2 HDMI+USB over Ethernet extender (2K)

#3 PC1 USB over Ethernet extender

#4 PC1 HDMI over Ethernet extender (aux monitor, 2K)

To reiterate: these devices are not networked, and each is on its own cable.

Separately, there's an Ethernet cable running from the router to the office, where there's a Wi-Fi router for coverage and connectivity purposes.

I recently took #4 out of commission, because the extenders weren't reliable (I don't think Ethernet can really handle the bandwidth necessary for 4K). I replaced it with a fiber optic HDMI extender whose cable I ran through conduit.

I know there are Ethernet-over-fiber extenders, which would require running four fiber lines—I'm trying to basically run four Ethernet cables over a single fiber line. Basically, I'd be looking to replace all dedicated Ethernet cables (four) with a single fiber cable. Is that possible?

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Huesmann
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The devices you are using are almost certainly not Ethernet devices. They are using the same kind of telecommunications cable that uses UTP copper with 8P8C modular ("RJ-45") connectors, but they are not using them for Ethernet, they are using them for their own proprietary signaling schemes; they do not use Ethernet-style signaling to send Ethernet packets down those cables.

So a product that adapts between UTP copper Ethernet and fiber optic Ethernet will not work for your scenario, because such a product would be Ethernet-specific; it would not be some kind of analog-layer media converter; it would expect to receive Ethernet packets on one port, and send Ethernet packets on the other port. But your products you're already using don't send or receive Ethernet packets.

Spiff
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Define "cable". A fiber cable can have as few as two strands (or even just one in some cases) if you're talking about a long patch cord, or it can mean as many as 24, or 72, or 96, or more if you're talking about outdoors cables that are used to interconnect whole buildings.

So if you have e.g. a 24-strand cable, then sure – have a patch panel (ODF) on each end, then connect your fiber Ethernet1 to 1/2, your fiber HDMI to 3/4, your other fiber HDMI to 5/6 ... and now you have everything over a single cable.

On the other hand, if it's really just a 2-strand cable meant for a single link, then your options are a bit more limited. The second approach would be to use WDM, i.e. combine different links as different colors (wavelengths) over the same fiber. WDM multiplexing equipment is widely available, but if I understand correctly it requires transceivers to already produce the signal in the correct color from the beginning (with SFP transceivers available for various "standard" colors). If your HDMI converters don't have swappable transceivers like Ethernet equipment does, that's probably not an option. [I really don't know much about WDM equipment though! Maybe there are active multiplexers that internally re-generate the signal in a different wavelength, or something?]

The third approach would be to multiplex just the transferred data over a single Ethernet link, e.g. using Ethernet switches that support VLANs. Here the major issue is that your "HDMI over Ethernet" likely isn't actually Ethernet, i.e.:

#1 PC1 HDMI+USB over Ethernet extender (4K)

Many of these are not HDMI+USB over Ethernet; often they are merely HDMI+USB over Cat6 cabling while the signalling they use is incompatible with that of Ethernet. (In part, yes, because raw 4K HDMI requires more bandwidth than even 10Gbit Ethernet could offer.) This rules out the VLAN option completely, as e.g. "Ethernet over fiber extenders"1 wouldn't even be able to establish a link on the copper side, much less keep up with the data.


1 (I really don't like the term "Ethernet over fiber extender", specifically because Ethernet-over-fiber is a real standard with equal standing to Ethernet-over-copper, so these are more like media converters than extenders – as opposed to the HDMI ones which do use proprietary not-quite-HDMI signalling to cram the HDMI data over a not-HDMI cable.)

grawity
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You can connect any number of clients through a single Ethernet line, copper or fiber.

Depending on what those clients do (the 'workloads'), you might need to run a faster link than for a single client.

Of course, fiber can generally support faster link speeds (up to 800 Gbit/s currently) than twisted-pair copper (up to 10 Gbit/s practically) and much longer links. If you're fine with 1 Gbit/s than you don't need fiber.

That said, your HDMI + USB over Ethernet extenders aren't actually using Ethernet. They're just using the same Cat.5/6 cable and you can't run the same thing over fiber.

You'd need to use KVM over IP adapters to use true network connections that you could run over switches, routers - or fiber.

Zac67
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