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December 14, 2015

SFP+ Optical Transceiver Module for Enhancing 10GbE Reliability

As organizations transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology, network designers must select the best optical devices for supporting this Ethernet. 10G transceiver modules has experienced the development from XENPAK, X2, XFP and finally realized with SFP+. Todayâ€™s article discusses the emergence of 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and why it is the time to moving to 10GbE. The most recently adopted modules, called small form-factor pluggable plus (SFP+), will be explained and how it further enhances the 10GbE reliability.

High Data Rate Systemsâ€”10 Gigabit Ethernet

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) approved the 802-3ae 10GbE specification in June 2002. 10 Gigabit Ethernet is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. Like previous versions of Ethernet, 10GbE can use either copper or fiber cabling. However, because of its bandwidth requirements, higher-grade copper cables are required: category 6a or Class F/Category 7 cables for links up to 100m. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet standard encompasses a number of different physical layer (PHY) standards.

Moving to 10GbE

Despite its recent maturity, 10GbE has had a long journey. Officially known as 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10GbE (also referred to as 10G) operates in only full-duplex mode and supports data transfer rates of 10 gigabits per second for distances up to 300 meters on multi-mode fiber optic cables and up to 10 kilometers on single-mode fiber optic cables.

After spending nearly a decade building out their 1GbE networks, enterprise have been reluctant to overhaul the resources invested in the network, including adapters, controllers and other devices, andâ€”perhaps most of allâ€”cabling. But as virtualization and cloud operations become core technology components, they are bringing with them changing network requirements, key to which is that the minimum for an advanced dynamic architectures is now 10GbE. On the market, there are a variety of optical devices to support 10GbE including processors, servers, adapters, switches, and cables. The following part will explain the most commonly used transceiver modulesâ€”SFP+ in detailed.

SFP+ Transceiver Modules

SFP+ transceivers was published by MSA (Multi-Source Agreement) in 2002. They are multi-purpose optical modules for 10Gbqs data transmission applications at 850 nm, 1310 nm and 1550 nm. SFP+ transceiver is based on SFP and developed by the ANSI T11 fibre channel group. SFP+ has become the most popular socket on 10GE systems due to its smaller size and lower power. This transceiver is ideally suited for data communication and storage space network (SAN/NAS) applications based on the IEEE 802.3ae.

Finisar FTLX8571D3BCL

Why SFP+ for 10GbE Connectivity?

SFP+ has gradually replaced other 10G transceiver modules and becomes the main stream of 10G transceivers markets for the following reasons.

Flexibility

The SFP+ standard builds on a previous oneâ€”the SFP MSA (primarily a 1Gb standard). SFP+ modules are the same physical size as SFPs and the SFP+ standard allows either type of module to operate in the new SFP+ slots.

Small Size

SFP+ modules are one tenth the size of the original XENPAK 10G modules (see Figure 1) and are the same size as the popular 1Gbps SFP modules. This small size allows the design of systems with 10G ports of the same density as previous generations with 1G ports.

Low Cost

Since SFP+ modules share many components (bezel, housing, latch/locking mechanism) on the previous SFP standard, the cost of the 10G modules inherits the low cost of these components. SFP+ units are also lower power, contributing to cost savings.

Fiberstore SFP+ Transceiver Modules

10GbE enables enterprises to boost network performance when using SFP+ transceiver modules. Itâ€™s important to find a vendor whose products offer the best quality and performance to support their fiber infrastructure.

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