3rd-party Optical Transceivers Innovation for Your Bottom Line

With the lightning fast changes of today’s technology, staying on the cutting edge can be a great challenge. A company’s data center and infrastructures have become one of the most strategic assets it owns, and conventional wisdom says that in order to support topline business growth, companies must spend money to make money.

However, this axiom is not true when it comes to optical transceivers. Using 3rd-party optics instead of name brand optics from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is a smart and innovative way to embrace changes in the dynamic networking and data center hardware markets, while protecting your bottom line by not paying exorbitant prices. This article will briefly explain the value and advantages that 3rd-party optical transceivers provide.

Sourcing and Price

Optics that you buy directly from an OEM are not necessarily original. OEMs actually buy their optics from master suppliers who code and label the products for them. An OEM’s price to the customer will factor in the costs of testing and validation, but the majority of what you pay for goes into the OEM’s pocket as pure profit. Third party optics providers source their products from the same (or equivalent) suppliers as used by OEMs. There are numerous third party optics resellers, and they may not all use the same testing procedures, but most have nearly 100% success in compatibility with the corresponding OEM equipment. The real difference between OEM and third party is that third party optics providers do not mark up the product as much as OEMs – which translates into significantly better pricing for the customer.

Quality and Reliability

You can find third party optics for virtually any product or platform. While Cisco comprises a large number of the compatible optics in the networking space, every product that requires a copper or fiber optic connection to another device will need an optic of one type or another. It is very important to ask your third party optics supplier about which OEMs and product lines they specialize in, and to inquire about detailed information on their testing procedures.

You’ll want to make sure that any third party optics you buy are compatible with the operating systems from different OEMs and the latest corresponding software releases. A good way to glean this information from your third party optics supplier is to ask for a list of the equipment in their test bed. This will also allow you to request testing logs and compatibility reporting as needed.

Warranty and Support

Last but most importantly, the best third party optics providers will stand behind their product after you’ve bought them. Because many third party optics providers are highly focused and specialize in the optical transceiver market, they will offer a lifetime warranty on their products. It is inevitable that at one point or another, even with name brand OEM optics, a few optics that you buy will fail. Failures occur most frequently when the software in networking and data center hardware is updated, causing incompatibility with existing optics. Ideal third party optics providers will be able to troubleshoot and replace the optic for you quickly and at minimal to no cost.

Buying 3rd-party optical transceivers may not be as attractive as the products and technologies they support, yet they can enable an organization to maximize the budget it has for IT projects. Finally, while identifying sources with the lowest prices is a common goal, smart customers should look at third party optics suppliers holistically, and factor things like breadth of products supported, compatibility and testing processes, support offerings, and reputation into their buying decisions.

Fiber Jumper Selection Guide for Optical Transceivers

Fiber optical transceivers and fiber jumpers are two most fundamental parts in fiber network connectivity. Fiber optic transceivers vary from transmission media, interface, transmission distance, data rate, and brand. It’s not difficult to identify various transceivers in the market. In order to achieve seamless connection between transceivers and fiber jumpers, many factors need to be considered.

Transmission Media

According to transmission media of fiber and copper, transceivers can be divided into two kinds, copper based transceivers and fiber optic based transceivers. MSA has defined several copper based transceiver like: 10GBASE-T SFP, 100BASE-T SFP and 1000BASE-T SFP. Copper transceivers are available in GBIC, SFP and SFP+ form factors, which usually has a RJ45 interface. So Cat5/6/7 cables are typically used to connect with the transceivers. Maybe Cat8 will be researched and developed to support higher data rate up to 40G sooner or later.

When it comes to optical transceivers, things are more complex. Because optical transceivers require different fiber patch cords which have more types. Fiber patch cables cover single-mode and multimode. Single-mode patch cable can be classified into OS1 and OS2. While multimode cables can be divided into OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 cable. Different cables are used in different applications. Single-mode cable can support long distance transmission and multimode cable for short distance link. If the transmission distance is shorter than 500 meters, multimode patch cable is suggested. For long distance transmission, single-mode transmission is suggested. You should also consider that the transmission data rate can also affect the transmission distance. Let’s look at the following point.

Distance and Data Rate

MSA has defined a variety of transceivers that can support different transmission distances and data rates. When you buy a fiber optic transceiver, you will find the data rate, wavelength, distance, etc. on its labeling.

As mentioned before, single-mode patch cable is better suited for long distance transmission while multimode patch cable for short distance transmission. Actually single-mode patch cords can be used for different data rates in both long and short distances. But single-mode fiber optic cable will cost more. To achieve reliable performance in short distances with cost effective solutions, you should know the performance of multimode fiber optic cables.

Interfaces of Transceivers

The choice of fiber jumpers for transceivers also depends on the interfaces through which patch cords is connected to the transceiver. In addition, transceiver usually used one port for transmitting and one port for receiving. Generally, fiber optic transceivers usually employs duplex SC or LC interfaces. However, for BiDi transceivers only one port is used for both transmitting and receiving. Thus, simplex patch cord is used with BiDi transceiver.

Some 40G/100GBASE QSFP+ transceivers used MTP/MPO interfaces, which should be connected to the network with multi-fiber patch cords attached with MTP/MPO connectors. If these ports are used for 40G to 10G or 100G to 10G connection, then fanout patch cable should be used. For example, a MTP to 8 LC fanout cable can splitter 40G data rate to four 10G data rate.

Conclusion

Only when choosing the right fiber jumpers for the optical transceivers can you ensure a good performance of your networks. Next time when you choose fiber jumpers for your fiber optic transceivers, you can consider all these factors comprehensively.

Choosing 10G SFP+ Modules for Cisco Switches

10G fiber optic network has been widely spread in today’s telecommunication network. The Cisco 10GBASE SFP+ modules offer customers a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications. If you choose a Cisco switch, Cisco original brand or Cisco compatible modules like SFP/SFP+ might be needed to transfer between optical signals and electrical signals. This article will introduce the 10G IEEE standards and how to select the proper 10G SFP+ module for Cisco switches.

Understand 10G IEEE Standards

10G fiber optic network is mature now, and there is a wide selection of 10G IEEE standards for different 10G networking applications and environments. Before you buy 10G SFP+ modules for your Cisco switches, you should firstly get to know these 10G standards.

IEEE has defined 10G standards for different transmission distance and transmission media. For instance, there is 10G-SFPP-SR for short distance up to 300 meters over OM3 multimode optical fiber and 10GBASE-LR for long distance up to 10 kilometers over single-mode fiber. There are also standards for 10G transmission over copper cables like 10GBASE-CR and 10GBASE-T. The following table listed the details for the most commonly used 10G standards.

Do You Really Need Cisco Original Brand SFP+ Modules?

Except IEEE standard and transmission distance, to select the proper 10G SFP+ modules should also considerate several other factors like compatibility and costs.

Although Cisco has a wide selection of switches and 10G SFP+ modules, but not every SFP+ modules can work well on every Cisco switches SFP+ port. Before selecting the SFP+ module for your Cisco switch, you must make sure this SFP+ is compatible with your switch.

The second important factor is the costs for the SFP+ modules. Why? SFP+ module is just a small part of the whole fiber optic network, but the use amount of SFP+ module is very large. Cisco Original brand SFP+ modules are usually expensive. Thus, select cost-effective modules are necessary. Actually, Cisco Original brand SFP+ module is not the only choice. There are also many third party modules that it compatible with Cisco switches. Generally, prices of third party fiber optic transceivers are much lower than the original brand ones.

How to Purchase Cisco 10G SFP+ Modules?

If you have plenty of money, you can directly order the modules from Cisco. However, if you are going to select the third party modules for a cost-effective solution, then the quality and compatibility would be very important. FS.COM supplies a full range of Cisco compatible modules. All its modules are fully tested in original brand switches to ensure the compatibility and quality. What’s more, FS.COM uses the same naming system as Cisco for its Cisco compatible modules and generic fiber optic modules. A list is also offered in the product page of each fiber optic modules showing the compatible switches and platforms. Customer can use the Cisco product number to search Cisco Compatible and generic modules in FS.COM directly.

1000BASE-SX SFP Modules Provided by FS.COM

Introduction to Gigabit Ethernet

In order to accelerate speeds from 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet up to 1 Gbps, many changes have been made to the physical interfaces. Gigabit Ethernet uses the same 802.3 frame format as 10Mbps and 100Mbps Ethernet systems. It runs ten times faster than the speed of Fast Ethernet, backward compatibility is assured with earlier versions, increasing its attractiveness by offering a high bandwidth connectivity system to the Ethernet family of devices.

Defined by IEEE 802.3z standard, Gigabit Ethernet originally launched three different physical layers: 1000Base-LX and 1000Base-SX using fiber and 1000Base-CX using copper. These physical layers were originally developed by IBM for the ANSI Fibre Channel systems and used 8B/10B encoding to reduce the bandwidth required to send high-speed signals. The IEEE merged the fibre channel to the Ethernet MAC using a gigabit media independent interface (GMII), which defines an electrical interface, enabling existing fibre channel PHY chips to be used and enabling future physical layers to be easily added.

1000Base-SX for Horizontal Fiber

1000Base-SX is a physical layer specification for Gigabit Ethernet over fiber optic cabling as defined in IEEE 802.3z. SX stands for short wavelength. And 1000Base-SX uses short wavelength laser (850nm) over multimode fiber as opposed to 1000Base-LX, which uses long wavelength laser over both multimode and single-mode fiber. The maximum distance of (multimode) fiber, based on 1000Base SX is 550m.

This Gigabit Ethernet version was developed for the short backbone connections of the horizontal network wiring. The SX systems operate full-duplex with multimode fiber only, using the cheaper 850nm wavelength laser diodes. The maximum distance supported varies between 200 and 550 meters depending on the bandwidth and attenuation of the fiber optic cable used. The standard 1000Base-SX NICs available today are full-duplex and incorporate LC fiber connectors.

1000BASE-SX SFP Optical Module Selection Guide

SFP transceiver is a hot-swappable input/output device that plugs into a Gigabit Ethernet port/slot, linking the port with the fiber-optic network. SFP can be used and interchanged on a wide variety of Cisco products and can be intermixed in combinations of IEEE 802.3z compliant 1000Base-SX interfaces on a port-by-port basis. 1000BASE-SX SFP (eg. Cisco GLC-SX-MM) supports link length of up to 550m on multimode fiber at 1Gbps. This optic works at 850nm wavelength and uses a LC connector.

SFP modules have now become an indispensable component in networks. Thus, it is very necessary to use quality assured modules. If you want to purchase cheaper and 100% compatible 1000Base-SX SFP modules online, FS.COM may be your good choice. You would not worry about the compatibility of the optics you have bought here. Because there is a perfect system from the production to shipment. Compatible SFP transceiver modules offered by FS.COM are test-assured and fully compatible with major brands (such as Cisco, HP, NETGEAR, Finisar, Juniper, etc.) and supported by a lifetime warranty. Besides, all these SFP modules can be customized according to your specific requirements.

Application of Fiber Transceivers in Data Center Communication

Fiber optical transceiver is the most common component in today’s data center communications. But few people realize it. By converting electronic signals into optical signals as transmitters at one end and then converting optical signals into electronic signals at the other end as receivers, it is an indispensable part in data transmission. Different types of transceivers have different applications in reality. Some are used together with singlemode fiber cables in singlemode applications while others are for multimode.

Use Optical Transceivers Rather Than Copper for Shorter Distance Applications

Copper SFPs provide a high-speed RJ45 data connector interface for unshielded, twisted-pair copper cable. The 1000BASE-T copper SFP allows a maximum link distance of up to 100 m. For 1Gbps Cisco SFP modules, if the optical transmission distance is less than 275 meters, multimode or single-mode optical fiber and any type of transceiver can be used. If the transmission distance is between 275 and 500 meters, 50/125-micron multimode or single-mode optical fiber and any type of transceiver can be used.

Use Single- module SFP Transceivers for Long Distance Fiber Network Applications

If the transmission distance exceeds 500 meters, only single-mode optical fiber and a long wave laser transceiver can be used. With the IEEE802.3ae standard, seven new media types were defined for LAN, metropolitan area network and wide area network connectivity:

• 1000BASE-SX SFP for Multimode Fiber Only – link lengths up to 550m
• 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP for Both Multimode and Single-Mode Fibers - link lengths up to 10km on SMF and up to 550m on MMF.
• 1000BASE-EX SFP for Long-Reach Single-Mode Fibers - link lengths up to 40km.
• 1000BASE-ZX SFP for Long-Reach Single-Mode Fibers - link lengths up to 70km.

Use Dual-rate Optical Transceivers for Long-Reach Fiber Network Applications

The dual-rate fiber SFP is interoperable with the IEEE 100BASE-LX and 1000BASE-LX/LH standards. In a dual-fiber single network configuration, it takes a group of fiber optic transceivers to achieve the desired electrical signal and light signal. When fiber optic transceivers are arranged in a group, they may exchange electrical signals and light signals. Fiber optic transceiver ports can be configured in adaptive mode.

Use 1000BASE-BX10 SFPs for Single-Fiber Bidirectional Applications

As we known, the 1000BASE-BX-D and 1000BASE-BX-U SFPs, compatible with the IEEE 802.3ah 1000BASE-BX10-D and 1000BASE-BX10-U standards, operate on a single strand of standard SMF. The1000Base-BX10 specification provides single-mode, single fiber support at a signaling speed of 1250 Mbps for a span of 10 km or greater depending on fiber type. The two wavelength ranges employed are:

• Downlink at 1480 to 1500 nm
• Uplink at 1260 to 1360 nm

Fiber optic transceivers are used in a variety of applications. One of the most important attributes of fiber optic transceivers is their ability to be compatible in a variety of communications applications. Most manufacturers choose them over and over because they fit in a small footprint, and they are reliable. In FS.COM, fiber optic transceivers in all form factors, from 100 Mbps to 100 Gbps are fully compliant to MSA and IEEE 802.3 standards. For instance, HP J4858C compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP transceiver is supported on a wide range of HP equipment and has the same performance with the originally branded optics. We code and test each of our optics in our test center to guarantee the high compatibility and performance.