Fiber Optic Transceivers Today and Tomorrow

Fiber optic transceivers is a self-contained component that can both transmit and receive. Usually, it is inserted in devices such as routers or network interface cards which provide one or more transceiver module slot, such as GBIC module, SFP transceiver, XFP, etc.

Fiber Optic Transceivers Today

Fiber optic transceivers for applications in the field of datacom are mostly characterized by a couple of established international standards. These standards define the electro-optical performance of a transceiver/transponder as well as its pinout and its physical outline and package, including the corresponding fiber optic connector interfaces.

Fiber optic transceivers meeting these standard are operating worldwide in numerous applications in mainframes, server clusters, storage area networks, wide area networks, and local area networks, and currently around 20 to 30 worldwide competing suppliers have been established. The number of partners involved in some important multisourcing agreements has seen an increase since 1989. This is also indicative of the increasing importance of industrial associations where both suppliers and applicators are represented. This speeds up the market penetration of novel components, systems, and applications. Nowadays, this does not seem to generate conflicts with the commonly agreed normative power of international standardization organizations such as the Internationnal Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The demand for these transceivers has continuously increased during the past 10 years, and the prices have shown dramatic decreases of order of 25% per year. Consequently, the goal of all manufacturers is to offer a high level of performance, reliability, quality, and serviceability while maintaining cost-effective production in the face of drastically increased volumes to meet the market pricing.

Some Aspects of Tomorrow's Transceivers

The bit rates of fiber optic transceivers are continuously increasing in order to meet the worldwide demand for ever higher bandwidths. These bandwidth increases are called for by both existing storage and networking markets, as well as the parallel computing industry and high end server design.

In the past 10 years, a significant reduction of transceiver module size was possible due to significant progress in the downsizing of optical subassemblies and associated passive and active electronic comparison of the ESCON/SBCON outline, multistandard, small form factor (SFF), and parallel SNAP-12 transceivers. The function of the transceivers shown is described in detail in my previous blog posts.

Future transceiver design is likely to focus on power consumption, electromagnetic compatibility and immunity, and density. As data rates continue to increase, we will start to see transceivers used closer to the ICs on the board and not just at the card edge. It has also been demonstrated the is possible to incorporate optical components onto a chip, completely avoiding the deficiencies of high-speed signals on copper board traces. While these advancements may take their place in high-end computing systems, classical card edge transceivers are likely to continue to play their role into the foreseeable future to allow fiber cable connection for SANs and networking.

Where to Buy Fiber Optic Transceivers

Fiber optic transceiver is a very popular format that's recommended by a large number of fiber optic component providers. Fiberstore provide a full range of optical transceivers. Cisco, especially, you can find a full product line of our Cisco SFP modules, such as Cisco GLC-T 1000BASE-T, SFP-GE-T, GLC-FE-100LX, etc. Our SFP and SFP+ moduels are 100% compatible with a good price and enjoy same-day shipping.

How Much Do You Know About SFP Transceivers

SFP transceiver is a hot-pluggable fiber transceiver, of which the SFP stands for Small Form-factor Pluggable. The mechanical, electronic, and optical design and gratifaction derive from a Multi-source Agreement (MSA) within the fiber telecom industry. It is a pluggable form of SFF. SFP may be the interface between a network device mother board and a fiber optic or copper network cable.

Where is a SFP transceiver used?

SFP transceiver is able to support most of the fiber networking standards for example Gigabit Ethernet, Fiber Channel, SONET, along with a quantity of other communications standards. As a compact and hot-pluggable optical transceiver, it is utilized in optical communications for telecommunication and data communication applications. It connects a switch, router, or any other network devices to a fiber cabling plant. SFP transceivers can be found in Metro Access Network, Metro Core Network, Wide Area Networks (WANs), etc.

What types will the SFP transceiver have?

SFP transceiver has an immense variation available, each with different transmitters or receivers. This enables the user to configure and customize the transceiver to get the proper optical reach with either a multimode fiber (multi mode SFP) or single-mode fiber type.

The SFP module commonly is available in four categories which are SX (850nm), LX (1310nm), ZX (1550nm) and DWDM (DWDM wavelengths). All of them have an interface of a copper cable which permits a mother board to speak via UTP (unshielded twisted-pair) network cable. Click here for a good example of 10G SR SFP+ 850nm. There also exist a CWDM and single-mode bi-directional fiber optic cables which are 1310/1490nm upstream and downstream.

Tips: FYI, the industry has developed enhancements to the SFP MSA, known as SFP Plus (SFP+), that is designed for higher data rates, lower cost and better thermal performance. By using SFP+ transceivers, data rate at 10 Gbps could be achievable, including the 8 Gigabit Fiber Channel. When compared with XENPAK or XFP type of modules that have all of their circuitry inside, an SFP+ module leaves some of its circuitry to be implemented on the host board.

What benefits will the SFP transceiver have?

Firstly, SFP transceiver is pluggable that makes it easy to alter the optical interface in the last step of card manufacturing. It’s also easy to accommodate different connector interfaces or a mix of SX and LX SFP.

Practically available, the SFP transceiver has the capability transfer rates as high as 4.25 Gbps. XFP, a form factor that is virtually identical to the SFP type, increases this amount by nearly three times, at 10 Gbps. The SFP transceiver is specified making compatible through the MSA between manufacturers, to ensure that different users who may use equipment from various manufacturers and providers can function effectively and smoothly without having to worry about errors and inconveniences.

Digital optical monitoring (DOM) or digital diagnostics monitoring (DDM) functions are based on the modern optical SFP transceiver according to the industry specifications of the SFF-8472 MSA. The consumer has the ability to constantly monitor real-time parameters of the SFP, for example optical input/outp power, supply voltage and laser bias current due to this feature.

A SFP cage is surface mounted to the PCB board to simply accept the transceiver. This not just provides easy replacement and reconfiguration, but additionally eliminates extra manufacturing steps and reduces cost. Because the optical component is taken away from soldering process, SFP transceivers have high optical reliability and permits the use of higher soldering temperatures.

SFP transceiver is a very popular format that’s recommended by a large number of fiber optic component providers. These businesses carry SFP transceivers for those Cisco devices along with transceiver modules for many other manufacturers. So, if you want technology solutions for the networking applications, at this point you know what to consider. Here is a nice web store you can purchase Cisco SFP modules.

Optical Transceivers for 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Introduction

As 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is introduced into networks the physical limitations and properties of optical fiber introduce new challenges for a network designer. Due to the increased data rate, fiber effects, such as dispersion (intermodal, chromatic or polarization), become a factor in the achievable distances of 10GbE links. This leaves the network designer with new decisions and trade-offs that he/she must understand and overcome.This paper provides an introduction to the world of optical fiber and covers the unique network design issues that 10GbE introduces into an optical fiber network.

In multimode fiber, the time it takes for light to travel through a fiber is different for each mode resulting in a spreading of the pulse at the output of the fiber referred to as intermodal dispersion. The difference in the time delay between the modes is called Differential Mode Delay (DMD). Intermodal dispersion limits multimode fiber bandwidth. This is significant because a fiber’s bandwidth determines its information carrying capacity, i.e., how far a transmission system can operate at a specified bit error rate.

10 Gigabit Ethernet

The IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet specification includes a serial interface referred to as 10GBASE-S (the “S” stands for short wavelength) that is designed for 850 nm transmission on multimode fiber. Table 2 provides the wavelength, modal bandwidth, and operating distance for different types of multimode fiber operating at 10 Gbps. Technical issues relating to the use of laser sources with multimode fibers (discussed in the previous section) has significantly limited the operating range of 10GbE over “FDDI grade” fiber. The “FDDI grade” multimode fiber has a modal bandwidth of 160 MHz*km at 850 nm and a modal bandwidth of 500 MHz*km at 1300 nm.

To address the operating range concern, a new multimode fiber specification had to be created for 10GbE to achieve multimode fiber operating distances of 300 m (as specified in the TIA/EIA-568 and ISO/IEC 11801 cabling standards). This new fiber is referred to by some as “10 Gigabit Ethernet multimode fiber” and is an 850 nm, laser-optimized, 50/125 micron fiber with an effective modal bandwidth of 2000 MHz*km and is detailed in TIA-492AAAC. Its key difference, relative to legacy multimode fibers, are the additional requirements for DMD specified in TIA-492AAAC enabled by a new measurement standard for DMD (TIA FOTP-220). As shown in Table 1, this fiber can achieve 300 m of distance with a 10GBASE-S interface. Many leading optical fiber vendors are actively marketing this new multimode fiber for 10GbE applications.

Description	62.5 micron fiber		50 micron fiber			Unit
Wavelength	850	850	850	850	850	nm
Modal bandwidth (min)	160	200	400	500	2000	Mhz km
Operating range	2-26	2-33	2-66	2-82	2-300	m

There are two major factors which will likely drive use of this new “10GbE multimode fiber”:

1. the popularity of short reach (300 m or less) 10GbE applications and
2. the cost of 10GBASE-S interfaces relative to the others.

Evidence of the popularity of low cost, short distance 850 nm multimode Ethernet applications can be found in the number of 1000BASE-SX ports shipped for 1 Gigabit Ethernet. 1000BASE-SX operates up to 550 meters on multimode fiber and has garnered a large percentage of the total number of 1 GbE switch ports shipped. Ultimately the marketplace will determine the popularity of “10GbE multimode fiber”. The alternative is to use single-mode fiber over a 10GBASE-L or 10GBASE-E interface or the 10GBASE-LX4 interface, which supports both single-mode and multimode fiber over distances of 10 km and 300 m, respectively.

Where to Buy Optical Transceiver

Fiberstore is a professional manufacturer and supplier of optical networking solutions. We can supply 100% compatible fiber optic transceiver modules of many brands, SFP transceiver brand compatible such as, Cisco SFP, Dell SFP, HP SFP transceiver.. with a incredible discount. Especially, you can find a full product line of our New Cisco 10G SFP+ with a good price and enjoy same-day shipping (eg.SFP-10G-SR, SFP-10G-LR and SFP 10G LRM).. According to your requirements, we welcome any inquiry for customized fiber optical transceiver. In addition, a variety of fiber patch cables are also offered with a good price and high quality. Fiberstore will give you a pefect solution for your network transmission.

1000BASE SFP Transceiver Provided By Fiberstore

The 1000BASE designation is an IEEE shorthand identifier. The "1000" in the media type designation refers to the transmission speed of 1000 Mbps. The "BASE" refers to baseband signalling, which means that only Ethernet signals are carried on the medium. For Gigabit Ethernet, industry offerings include these types of wiring:

• 1000BASE-T (four pairs of Category 5 unshielded twisted pair cable for a maximum length of 100 meters)
• 1000BASE-SX (a short laser wavelength on multimode fiber optic cable for a maximum length of 550 meters)
• 1000BASE-LX/LH (a long wavelength for a "long haul" fiber optic cable for a maximum length of 10 kilometers)
• 1000BASE-EX (the laser wavelength is 1310nm on single-mode fiber optic cable for a maximum length of 40 km)
• 1000BASE-ZX (an extended wavelength single-mode optical fiber for up to 100 kilometers)
• 1000BASE-BX10(single way single-mode fiber optic cable for a maximum length of 10km)

Cisco, one of the top 500 companies in this world, supplies network and communications goods and service. Its SFP(small form-factor pluggable) transceiver is popular using their routers and switches. Cisco SFP is definitely an upgraded version fiber optic transceiver in the traditional one, which can be smaller and more flexibility. Cisco SFP provides a number of the transceivers with various working wavelength and distance. Today I'd like to introduce you something about the Cisco 1000Base SFP transceivers, including 1000BASE-T, 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-LX/LH, 1000BASE-EX, 1000BASE-ZX, or 1000BASE-BX10-D/U on the port-by-port basis.

1000BASET SFP for Copper networks work on garden variety Category 5 unshielded twisted pair copper cabling. Cisco 1000BASE-T SFP is capable of approximately 100m (328 ft) link lengths. Cisco 1000BASE-T SFP modules support 10/100/1000 autonegotiation and Auto MDI/MDIX.

1000BASE-SX SFP which in some areas is called Transceiver SX, and it can be used just for the purposed from the multimode optical fiber. It is fully suitable for IEEE802.3z 1000BASE-SX standard. 1000BASE-SX SFP traditional 50 microns of multimode optical fiber link is 550 meters high and 62.5 micron fiber distributed data interface (FDDI) multimode optical fiber can be 220 meters.

Used for 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP(GLC-LH-SM) single mode and multimode optical fiber application. Compatible with IEEE802.3z 1000BASE-LX standard 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP. the SFP operating cycle standard single mode fiber optic link up to 10 km, 550 meters of any of the multimode optical fiber. With the traditional form of multimode optical fiber, transmitter should adjust cable and through the model.

1000BASE-EX SFP is perfect for long-reach, single mode fiber can reach 40 km long. A 5 dB must be inserted regarding the inline optical attenuator from the fiber optic cable on both sides from the receiving port of SFP back end about the hyperlink to the connections about the back.

1000BASE-ZX SFP(GLC-ZX-SM) is required for too long distance, about 70km duration of single mode fiber application. SFP optical link budget of the 23 decibels, but the exact link span depends on multiple factors, for example, fiber optic connector, quantity and connector.

1000BASE-BX10-D and 1000BASE-BX10-U SFP of single fiber bi-directional applications and compatibility according to IEEE 802.3ah 1000BASE-BX10-D and 1000BASE-BX-10-U standards. 1000BASE-BX10-D SFP are operated by only one strand of ordinary SMF.

Fiberstore.com provides a fully choice Cisco SFP fiber optic transceivers, including Cisco Bidi SFP,Cisco Copper SFP , Cisco DWDM SFP and Cisco CWDM SFP . The Cisco 1000BASE SFP Transceiver provided by Fiberstore are economic price but high-quality. Their Cisco SFP modules fully tested to be sure the compatibility with equipment from Cisco as well as other companies.