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.