Save Cost by Using BiDi Transceivers

As usual, optical transceivers such as SFP or SFP+ use two fibers to transmit data between switches. One fiber is used to transmit data to the network equipment and the other fiber is utilized to receive the data. As to the transceiver modules of high speed data rate like QSFP-40G-SR4 and QSFP-40G-ESR4, they need more fibers. Is there any technology allowing transceivers to transmit and receive through one single optical fiber or two fibers for QSFP+?

What Is BiDi Transceiver?

The answer is yes. And that kind of transceiver is called BiDi transceiver. Bidi (Bi--Directional) transceiver is also known as WDM transceiver, because it applies wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) couplers, also called diplexers, which combine and separate data transmitted over a single fiber based on the wavelengths of the light.

BiDi Transceiver Advantage

Compared with traditional transceiver modules, BiDi transceivers can cut your cost on fiber cabling infrastructure by requiring fewer fiber cables, reducing the number of fiber patch panel ports and saving fiber cable management space. Based on the obvious advantages, you should deploy BiDi transceivers in your network. Here will recommend you several kinds of BiDi transceivers of 1Gbps, 10Gbps and 40Gbps.

BiDi Transceiver Categories

BiDi SFP

BiDi SFP transceivers transmit and receive optical signal through a single fiber on the wavelengths of 1310 nm & 1490 nm, 1310 nm & 1550 nm, 1490nm & 1550 nm. BiDi SFPs include the supportable data rate of 100Mbps and 1000Mbps. Take the Cisco GLC-BX-U compatible 1000BASE-BX-U BiDi SFP as an example. The wavelengths of the BiDi SFP are 1310 nm and 1490 nm. It can support the link lengths of 10 km over LC simplex fiber patch cable. As shown in the following figure, a pair of Cisco GLC-BX-U compatible BiDi SFPs are linked via a single LC simplex fiber patch cable to build the direct connection of two Cisco Catalyst 4948E-F switches.

BiDi SFP+

Bidi SFP+ transceiver is enhanced SFP designed to support 10Gbps data rate with link lengths up to 80 km over one fiber. It uses WDM technology sharing 1270 nm & 1330 nm. Take a look at the figure below. It’s about the direct connection for 10G BiDi SFP+ in room wiring. The two Cisco SFP-10G-BXU-I compatible 10GBASE-BX10-U SFP+ transceivers are plugged into Cisco Nexus 9396PX switches. The connection is achieved by using an LC simplex fiber patch cable. It’s a simplest and cost-effective way to build 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for data center.

BiDi QSFP+

40G BiDi QSFP+ transceiver is specially designed for high density data center. With QSFP+ BiDi transceivers, you can get 40Gbps network over 10Gbps cable. In this way, you don’t need to replace all 10G two-fiber patch cables with 8-fiber MTP/MPO patch cable if you need network upgrade. In Figure 3, we use Cisco QSFP-40G-SR-BD compatible 40GBASE-SR BiDi transceivers for the direct connection of two switches. Instead of applying 40G MTP patch cable, we can just plug the common LC-LC fiber patch cable into the transceivers to get 40Gbps network. It saves you lots of costs.

Warm Tips: When you buy a BiDi transceiver, you may notice wavelengths are labeled on the BiDi transceivers like 1270nm-TX/1330nm-RX or 1270nm-RX/1330nm-TX. From this perspective, you can see this type of transceivers should be used in matched pairs, with their diplexers tuned to match the expected wavelength of the transmitter and receiver that they will be transmitting data from or to.

Summary

BiDi transceivers may be more expensive than common transceiver modules, but they can save you the cost on fiber cables from the long run. Fiberstore offers BiDi transceivers of various data rates which are highly compatible with some famous brands. If you plan to purchase BiDi transceivers for building or upgrading your network, you can visit our site www.fs.com.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

What Should You Know About Fibre Channel?

Before Fibre Channel appears, SCSI (small computer system interface) was used as the transmission interface between servers and clustered storage devices. But as the high speed demands keep increasing, Fibre Channel replaces SCSI inevitably due to its higher transmission data rate, flexibility, and long distance. This article is going to introduce you some details about Fibre Channel.

What Is Fibre Channel?

Fibre Channel, short for FC, is a technology for transmitting data between computer devices at data rate of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 128 Gbps. It’s mainly used in storage area networks (SAN) in commercial data centers. It’s useful for connecting computer servers to shared storage devices and for interconnecting storage controllers and drives.

Fibre Channel Transceivers

Except optical fiber cable, Fibre Channel transceiver is the other vital equipment to connect the Fibre Channel network in data centers. It provides the interface between Fibre Channel systems and the optical fibers of the SAN. FS.COM offers SFPs and SFP+s that are compatible with Fibre Channel. Fiberstore Fibre Channel SFPs support the distance up to 80km and the data rate of 2G/4G. As to our Fibre Channel SFP+ transceivers, they can support the data rate up to 8Gbps and 10Gbps. In Fiberstore, you can also find some compatible brands of FC transceivers including Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, HPE, etc. What’s more, all these modules have been tested to assure 100% compatible. For your information, the following table shows some hot FC transceivers for 2G/4G and 8G/10G network applications.

Model	Description
37656	2G Fibre Channel SFP 1310nm 10km DOM Transceiver
15376	Cisco DS-SFP-FC8G-ER Compatible 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 1550nm 40km DOM Transceiver
15231	Cisco DS-SFP-FC8G-SW Compatible 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 850nm 150m DOM Transceiver
33293	HPE (ex QLogic) AJ718A Compatible 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 850nm 150m DOM Transceiver
39630	HPE (ex Brocade) AJ716B Compatible 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 850nm 150m DOM Transceiver
35932	Brocade XBR-000163 Compatible 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ 850nm 150m DOM Transceiver

 

Transfer to High Speed Fibre Channel

However, as the need for high-bandwidth never stops increasing, the data rate of 2G, 4G or even 8G can’t meet the high speed requirements. So many data centers move to higher Fibre Channel standards, for example, 16G Fibre Channel. 16G FC links increase the network speed twice as 8G FC and 40% faster than 10G FC. The transition to 16G FC makes data transfer smoother, quicker and cost-effective from the good side. But from the other side, the transition still faces some challenges. There might be some data communication error rates that may affect the network performance. And the physics of 16G FC can possibly bring some new restrictions on fiber cabling and transceiver modules. Therefore, before starting to transfer to higher speed Fibre Channel infrastructure, you should better follow the tips listed below.

First, cleaning issue. In fiber optics connection, contamination is thought as a big problem which may lead to link failure. So you should clean all the transceiver modules, connectors and other cable junctions to ensure there is no contamination in the fiber optic connection. Some fiber testers and cleaning tools are necessary for your cleaning work.

Second, analyze the optical power budget between transmit and receiver ports. It requires that the power margin (transmit power minus power loss during the data transmission through the cable) should be more than the receiver power of the optical transceivers. At the same time, it also should meet the FC protocol specification.

Third, measure the light level on the transmitting side and receiving side. You can use suitable fiber optical light source or optical power meter to measure the power level on critical links. If the power level were not in the right station, check whether the cable length is suitable or cable bend radius reaches the maximum. Then you are suggested to purchase customized bend insensitive fiber cable for your special use.

Summary

Fibre Channel is commonly used for the connection of SAN in enterprise storage. You can find 2G/4G FC SFPs, 8G/10G FC SFP+ modules and matching fiber patch cables from FS.COM. If you need to upgrade your Fibre Channel network to 16G or even higher, remember the above tips and make sure the 16G FC are compatible with 4G FC and 8G FC.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

Transceiver Solutions for Ubiquiti UniFi Switches

UniFi switch is one type of the switches Ubiquiti has introduced into the market (The other kind is Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch). The UniFi switch provides fiber connectivity options for easy expansion of your networks. This article will introduce the main features of UniFi switches, supportable SFP and SFP+, and easy tips for building network with UniFi switch.

Introduction to UniFi Switches

UniFi switch delivers high performance to satisfy your growing network. The Ubiquiti UniFi switches include US-24 and US-48. US-24 can support data rates up to 26 Gbps while US-48 can support the network speed up to 70 Gbps of non-blocking throughput. Main features of these two switches are described as below.

Features of US-24 switch:

• 24 Gigabit RJ45 ports
• 2 SFP ports
• 52Gbps switching capacity
• 250W max. power consumption
• Rack mountable

Features of US-48 switch:

• 48 Gigabit RJ45 ports
• 2 SFP+ ports
• 2 SFP ports
• 140Gbps switching capacity
• 56W max. power consumption
• Rack mountable

Except the above two switches, there are some other kinds containing US-8-150 (with 8 Gigabit RJ45 ports and 2 SFP ports) and US-16-150W (with 16 Gigabit RJ45 ports and 2 SFP ports). Both switches are available with different models. You can find the details about these models from the following table.

SFP and SFP+ for UniFi Switch

If you are wondering which SFP and SFP+ are suitable for UniFi switch, you can get the answer now. You have two choices for getting suitable transceiver modules. Ubiquiti produces single-mode and multimode SFP and SFP+ modules for UniFi switches. UF-MM-1G and UF-MM-1G-S are designed for SFP ports. Three modules such as UF-SM-10G, UF-SM-10G-S, and UF-MM-10G are appropriate for SFP+ ports.

Of course, transceiver modules for UniFi switch are not limited to these original SFP/SFP+. A wide range of third-party transceivers can also work with UniFi switch. The following table will show you some compatible transceivers from FS.COM.

Fiberstore SFPs

ID #	Description
20363	Cisco GLC-SX-MM-RGD Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m DOM Transceiver
11774	Cisco GLC-SX-MM-RGD Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m DOM Transceiver
32658	Finisar FTLF1318P3BTL Compatible 1000BASE-LX and 1G Fibre Channel SFP
16450	Finisar FTLF8519P2BNL Compatible 2G Fibre Channel SFP 850nm 300m EXT DOM Transceiver
14951	Finisar FTLX1371D3BCL Compatible 10GBASE-LRM SFP+ 1310nm 220m DOM Transceiver
16453	Finisar FTLF8524P2BNL Compatible 4G Fibre Channel SFP 850nm 150m EXT DOM Transceiver
32140	HPE J4858C Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m DOM Transceiver

Fiberstore SFP+s

ID #	Description
48895	1m Brocade 10G-SFPP-TWX-0101 Compatible 10G SFP+ Active Direct Attach Cable
36671	1m Brocade 10G-SFPP-TWX-0101 Compatible 10G SFP+ Passive Direct Attach Cable
30849	1m Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU1M Compatible 10G SFP+ Passive Direct Attach Copper Twinax Copper Cable
48884	1m Cisco SFP-H10GB-ACU1M Compatible 10G SFP+ Active Direct Attach Copper Cable
14945	Finisar FTLX8571D3BCL Compatible 10GBASE-SR/SW SFP+ 850nm 300m DOM Transceiver

Building Connection

To build the UniFi network, you have to prepare installation screwdriver, at least 1U rack, UTP Cat 5 (or above) for indoor applications and STP Cat5 (or above) for outdoor applications. It’s quite easy.

• First, install the UniFi switch on the rack with four mounting screws. Then plug one end of the power cord into the power port of the UniFi switch and the other end into the power outlet.
• Second, connect Ethernet cables from your devices to RJ45 ports of UniFi switch.
• Third, plug an SFP transceiver into the SFP port if you need to use it. After that, connect the SFP module with a fiber patch cable.

Conclusion

UniFi switches are very commonly used for network connection. To build the network, you don’t need to spend much time on searching cables or modules from the internet. FS.COM offers fiber patch cables and Ethernet cables for your connection. We also provide some transceiver modules definitely compatible for UniFi switch. Every module has been strictly tested to make sure high quality. Just come to our site and you must get the transceiver module you need for your UniFi switch.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

Check out All CWDM Transceiver Modules

Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing (CWDM) is one of WDM technologies. It uses up to 20 different wavelengths for data transmission over a single fiber. CWDM applies coarse wavelength grid and it allows low-cost, uncooled lasers, which makes CWDM systems less expensive and consuming less power. There are many optical equipment applying CWDM technology. This article will introduce CWDM optical transceivers.

CWDM Transceivers

CWDM transceiver is a kind of optical modules employing CWDM technology. CWDM transceivers enable connectivity between existing network equipment and CWDM Multiplexers/DeMultiplexers (Mux/DeMux). When used with CWDM Mux/DeMux, CWDM transceivers can increase network capacity by transmitting multiple data channels with separate optical wavelengths (1270 nm to 1610 nm) over the same single fiber. CWDM transceivers are also useful for reducing network equipment inventories by eliminating the need to maintain surplus units/ devices of various fiber types for network repairs or upgrades. CWDM transceivers include four types, such as CWDM SFP, CWDM SFP+, CWDM XFP and CWDM X2. The following shows more details about these CWDM transceiver modules.

CWDM Transceiver Module Types

 

CWDM SFP

CWDM SFPs are hot-pluggable transceiver modules. CWDM SFP transceivers are SFP MSA (Multi Sourcing Agreement) and IEEE 802.3 & ROHS compliant. CWDM SFPs can provide data rates including 1G, 2G and 4G over the link distance of up to 200 km by connecting with duplex LC single-mode patch cords. CWDM SFPs transmit multiple data channels by combining separate optical wavelengths onto a single fiber to increase network capacity. CWDM SFPs can be used to support the CWDM passive optical system combing CWDM OADM (optical add/drop multiplexer). When CWDM SFPs used with transponders and media converters, these two optical components offer convenient method to convert existing legacy equipment with standard wavelengths or copper ports to CWDM wavelengths.

CWDM SFP+

CWDM SFP+ offers service providers and enterprise companies an easy way to get a scalable 10 Gigabit Ethernet network. It is a cost-effective solution for 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications in campus, data center and metropolitan area access networks. CWDM SFP+ can transport up to eight channels of 10 Gigabit Ethernet over single-mode fiber strands at the wavelengths including 1610 nm, 1590 nm, 1570 nm, 1550 nm, 1530 nm, 1510 nm, 1490 nm, and 1470 nm. CWDM SFP+ solution is helpful to increase the bandwidth of an existing 10 Gigabit Ethernet optical infrastructure without adding new fiber strands. The solution can be used in parallel with other SFP+ devices on the same platform.

CWDM XFP

CWDM XFP is a hot-pluggable module designed in Z-direction and mainly used for typical routers and switch line card applications. CWDM XFP transceivers are designed for Storage, IP network and LAN. They comply with CWDM XFP MSA. CWDM XFPs cover the wavelengths from 1270 nm to 1610 nm. These modules can support the distance up to 100 km, which depends on the wavelengths, fiber types and the CWDM Mux/DeMux insertion loss.

CWDM X2

CWDM X2 transceiver is designed for CWDM optical data communications such as 10G Ethernet and 10G Fibre Channel applications. CWDM X2 wavelengths are available from 1270 nm to 1610 nm. CWDM X2 is MSA Compliant. It supports the transmission distance up to 80 km connecting with duplex SC single-mode fiber cable.

Conclusion

CWDM technology provides a low-cost solution which allows scalable and easy-to-deploy Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel services. CWDM transceivers enable a more flexible and highly available multi-service network with the combinations of CWDM OADMs and CWDM Mux/DeMux. FS.COM offers all kinds of CWDM transceivers like CWDM SFP, CWDM SFP+, CWDM XFP, CWDM X2. Our CWDM transceivers are compatible with most famous brands and all these optics have been fully tested to make sure high compatibility. For more details about Fiberstore CWDM transceivers and other CWDM equipment, please visit our site www.fs.com or contact us via sales@fs.com.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

What’s the Difference Between Cisco GLC-SX-MM and Cisco GLC-SX-MMD?

Cisco 1000BASE SFPs keep a huge market share in the optic area. Cisco SFPs offer users optical solutions for long distance and short distance transmission. For short distance, there are 1000BASE SX SFP, such as Cisco GLC-SX-MM and Cisco GLC-SX-MMD. Though these two modules have great similarity, they are actually different. Then what’s the difference? This article will introduce details of Cisco GLC-SX-MM and Cisco GLC-SX-MMD SFP transceiver modules.

Cisco GLC-SX-MM

Cisco GLC-SX-MM 1000BASE-SX SFP is a duplex transceiver for short distance transmission, operating at the wavelength of 850 nm at the data rate of 1Gbps. It connects with OM2 multimode LC patch cords supporting up to 550 meters. The hot-swappable 1000BASE-SX SFP is compatible with the IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX standard. And it’s RoHS compliant.

Cisco GLC-SX-MMD

Cisco GLC-SX-MMD 1000BASE-SX SFP is another type of hot-swappable transceiver for short reach data transmission. This 1000Base-SX transceiver supports data rates up to 1.25Gbps. Same to Cisco GLC-SX-MM SFP, it also has duplex LC interference. Connecting with OM2 MMF, it can support the distance up to 550 meters. It’s compliant with SFP Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) standards. Cisco GLC-SX-MMD is composed of five parts: the LD driver, the limiting amplifier, the digital diagnostic monitor, the VCSEL laser and the PIN photo-detector. The Digital Diagnostic Monitoring (DDM) function is its special feature.

What Is DDM?

From the above content, you can see the main difference of these two transceivers is the DDM. When you buy SFP transceivers in the market, you may come across this selection difficulty whether to choose an SFP with DDM or not. So what’s DDM?

DDM is short for digital diagnostic monitoring. It’s also known as diagnostic optical monitoring (DOM). Diagnostic monitoring interface outlined in the SFF-8472 MSA is an extension of the serial ID interface defined in the GBIC specification, as well as in the SFP MSA. Today, many SFP transceivers have the function of digital diagnostics monitoring according to the industry standard MSA SFF-8472. It provides the important information about the status of the transmitted and received signals. This approach allows for better fault isolation and error detection.

DDM mainly plays the role in two sides: monitoring and warning. It monitors detailed information about a transceiver. And it offers a system of alarm and warning flags which alert the host system when particular operating parameters are not in line with the normal operating parameters set by the factory. So users can find out the fault isolation according to outcomes of DDM, and predict failure possibilities and prevent such fault.

Real-time monitoring—With a 2-wire serial bus (also known as “I2C” or “I2C” protocol), digital diagnostics can monitor the SFP module’s temperature, receiver power, transmitter bias current, and transmitter power by a microcontroller inside the transceiver. Usually, the output of the physical value of each parameter is an analog voltage or current from the Trans impedance amplifier, the laser driver, or the post amplifier. Then the digitalized value can be processed as part of a control loop, trigger an alarm, or just record the data into a register.

Calibration and warning thresholds—In addition to generating digital readings of internal analog values, DDM can also produce various status bits. Calibration and warning thresholds value is made during the device manufacturing process. Comparing current values generated by DDM and factory preset limits, users will know whether or not the transceivers have met the desired operation requirements.

FS.COM Cisco Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP Solutions

FS.COM brings Cisco compatible 1000BASE-SX SFPs including GLC-SX-MM and GLC-SX-MMD SFPs.
The 1000BASE-SX standard optics are developed to support lower cost multi-mode fiber runs in horizontal and shorter-length backbone applications. The following figure shows two Cisco GLC-SX-MM SFP transceivers are connected by an LC MMF patch cable.

Item	Part No.	Description
a.	11774	Cisco GLC-SX-MM Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m Transceiver
b.	43132	2M LC UPC to LC UPC Duplex 2.0mm PVC(OFNR) OM2 Fiber Optic Patch Cable
b.	11774	Cisco GLC-SX-MM Compatible 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm 550m Transceiver

Note: you can use GLC-SX-MMD SFPs to replace GLC-SX-MM SFPs for shorter-length backbone application, too.

Conclusion

This article introduces Cisco GLC-SX-MM and Cisco GLC-SX-MMD SFP transceivers. Both kinds can realize short distance connection. The difference is that GLC-SX-MMD has DDM function while the other has no. So it’s up to you to decide whether you need DDM function to monitor parameters of the SFP. Fiberstore supplies optical transceivers with DDM and without DDM to satisfy customers' different needs. If you need more information, please contact us via sales@fs.com or visit our site www.fs.com.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

How to Choose Satisfying SFP Transceiver Modules?

Today, various types of 1000BASE SFP transceiver modules can be found in the market. But should you choose one for long distance and short distance application? Or buy copper optics? Which brand is the most reliable and cost-effective, Cisco, Finisar, HP, etc.? Do the third-party optics operate as well? So how to find satisfying SFP transceiver modules which suit your switch most? Now keep reading this article and you will get the method. Take three most common types of Cisco SFP modules as example.

Three Types of Cisco SFP Modules

GLC-SX-MM SFP

This GLC-SX-MM 1000BASE-SX SFP transceiver module is a duplex SFP transceiver for optical communications. It can support the data rate of 1Gbps reaching the distance up to 550 meters over OM2 multimode cable. The GLC-SX-MM transceiver operates at 850nm wavelength. It’s compatible with the IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX standard, which is usually applied in Gigabit Ethernet. There are also GLC-SX-MMD and GLC-SX-MM-RGD SFP modules. “D" of GLC-SX-MMD means Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM) support which supports transceiver monitoring and troubleshooting operations. "RGD" of GLC-SX-MM-RGD refers to rugged (RGD) transceiver module, which features enhanced ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection, and extended operating temperature range.

GLC-LX-SM SFP

The Cisco GLC-LH-SM 1000BASE-LX/LH transceiver is an LC duplex SFP transceiver applied for Gigabit Ethernet network. This module is designed for both short distance and long distance data transmission. If connecting with single-mode fiber patch cable, it can reach up to 10 km. If connecting with multimode fiber patch cable, it can go up to 550 meters. The GLC-LH-SM transceiver operates at 1310nm wavelength. This transceiver is compliant with Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) standards. LX means long wavelengths and LH is short for long haul. 1000BASE-LX is the Gigabit Ethernet standard specified to work over a distance of 5 km over single-mode fiber cable. 1000BASE-LH and 1000BASE-LH/LX are often used by the manufacturers. Thus, we often see 1000BASE-LX/LH instead of 1000BASE-LX.

GLC-T SFP

The GLC-T 1000BASE-T SFP is a hot-swappable input/output device that plugs into a Gigabit Ethernet port or slot, linking the port with the network. It supports the max data rate of 1000Mbps reaching 100 meters links over copper cables such as Cat5, Cat5e or Cat6a. This transceiver is fully compliant with the MSA and 1000BASE-T standards as specified in IEEE 802.3-2002 and IEEE 802.3ab.

Original or Third-party?

"Third-party" means a supplier (or service provider) who is not directly controlled by either the seller (first party) or the customer/buyer (second party) in a business transaction. For fiber optics industry, all fiber optic transceivers are defined by Multi-Source Agreement (MSA). MSAs strictly define the operating characteristics of fiber optic networking equipment. Therefore, as long as a manufacturer complies to MSA guidelines, their transceiver modules will function and operate identically to other manufacturer's MSA-compliant transceivers. For example, the above fiber optics like GLC-SX-MM, GLC-LH-SM and GLC-T made by FS.COM are completely compatible with Cisco networking equipment.

Whether to buy original or compatible SFPs may depend on the the cost. Original SFPs are much more expensive than the third-party modules. Using the third-party optics can absolutely help you save the cost. Considering the third-party SFPs from the third vendor, you may worry about the quality and compatibility. As to Cisco compatible GLC-SX-MM, GLC-T, GLC-LH-SM SFP modules, lots of vendors can produce these optics. So it’s necessary to ask information about OEMs and compatibility test from your third-party optics supplier.

Conclusion

From the above introduction, you must have a well understanding about three common Cisco 1000BASE SFPs. When choosing SFP modules, you should consider whether it matches the switch port and the cable you have prepared. If you have multimode cable, then you can choose GLC-SX-MM 1000BASE SFP. If you use single-mode fiber cable, you should select GLC-LH-SM 1000BASE SFP. While if your cable is copper category, you have to use GLC-T 1000BASE-T SFP. On condition that your budget doesn’t allow you to buy original brand module, you can buy the third-party optics from FS.COM with Cisco, Finisar, HP and other compatible brands. All the optics have gone through test for 100% compatibility. Any question, please contact us via sales@fs.com.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

How Much Do You Know About SONET/SDH SFP+?

Before, Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) system was used to transport phone calls and data over the same fiber. Since phone calls and data traffic increase a lot, SONET/SDH are introduced to replace PDH system to transport the data without synchronization problems. As you can see, you always find SONET/SDH SFP+ in the market. Now, this article will give a brief analysis on SONET/SDH SFP+.

SONET/SDH Interfaces Overview

SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) are multiplexing protocols that transfer multiple digital bit streams over optical fiber with lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs). SONET and SDH are widely used methods today for very high speed transmission of voice and data signals across the numerous world-wide fiber-optic networks. SONET is the standard used in the United States and Canada, and SDH in the rest of the world. The two are largely equivalent. Although the SONET standards were developed before SDH, it is considered a variation of SDH because of SDH's greater worldwide market penetration.

We often find SONET/SDH SFP transceiver like Cisco OC-3/STM-1 LR-1 SFP 1310nm 40km IND DOM. What does OC-3/STM-1 mean? OC-3c (Synchronous Transport Signal 3, concatenated) is the basic unit of SONET. Depending on the system, OC-3 is also known as STS-3 (when the signal is carried electrically). STM-1 (Synchronous Transport Module, level 1) is the basic unit of framing in SDH, which operates 155.52 Mbit/s. OC-3c and STM-1 have the same high-level functionality, frame size, and bit-rate.

    SONET/SDH Data Rates

 

SONET/SDH and 10 Gigabit Ethernet

10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) means the Ethernet network runs at 10 Gigabit per second. The 10 Gigabit Ethernet defines two PHY (Physical Layer) types: a local area variant (LAN PHY) with a line rate of 10.3125 Gbit/s, and a wide area variant (WAN PHY) with the same line rate as OC-192/STM-64 (9,953,280 Kbit/s).

10GbE provided the potential for an Ethernet solution aligned with the data rate of OC-192 backbone. It’s the first time in Ethernet history that no additional speed matching equipment would be required to link with the WAN. A seamless end-to-end Ethernet network can be built with less money. But the question is how to balance the compatibility with the installed base of OC-192 equipment while still meeting the economic feasibility criteria of the P802.3ae Task Force in defining the 10GE WAN PHY. To solve this problem, an OC-192 frame format is provided to support only the SONET overhead features required for fault isolation. This simplification avoids unnecessary functions and cost.

In order to make sure that WAN PHY optics would benefit from the high volumes and low cost of Ethernet, the serial 1310 nm and 1550 nm transceiver modules were kept the same as the LAN PHY. Since the 1310 nm and 1550 nm transceiver modules are designed for up to 10km and 40 km links respectively, they will inter-operate with OC-192 transceiver modules for 1310 nm and 1550 nm over intermediate reach, respectively.

FS.COM SONET/SDH SFP+

Fiberstore offers OC-192/STM-64 SFP+ for short reach (SR-1, VSR) , intermediate reach (IR-2) and long reach (LR-2) applications (as shown in the following table). These SFP+ modules are compatible with the SONET/SDH and ATM standards. For more details, please visit www.fs.com or contact us via sales@fs.com.

Part No.	Description	Shop Now
29932	OC-192/STM-64 SFP+ 1310nm 220m DOM Transceiver	Buy
29915	OC-192/STM-64 VSR and 10GBASE-SR/SW SFP+ 850nm 300m DOM Transceiver	Buy
29933	OC-192/STM-64 SR-1 SFP+ 1310nm 2km DOM Transceiver	Buy
29935	OC-192/STM-64 SR-1 and 10GBASE-LR/LW SFP+ 1310nm 10km DOM Transceiver	Buy
29934	OC-192/STM-64 SFP+ 1310nm 20km DOM Transceiver	Buy
29936	OC-192/STM-64 SFP+ 1310nm 40km DOM Transceiver	Buy
29939	OC-192/STM-64 IR-2 and 10GBASE-ER/EW SFP+ 1550nm 40km DOM Transceiver	Buy
29940	OC-192/STM-64 LR-2 and 10GBASE-ZR/ZW SFP+ 1550nm 80km DOM Transceiver	Buy

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

Quick Guides on 3G Digital Video SFPs

As high definition (HD) content occupies the norm in video and broadcasting industry, higher standards digital video SFPs are needed for HD or even higher standard video transmission. So there are 3G digital video SFPs suitable for SD/HD/3G-SDI. To know more about 3G digital video SFPs, please continue to read this article.

SDI Standards

SDI, short for Serial Digital Interface, is a digital video interface standard made by SMPTE (The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) organization. The serial interface transmits the data through single channel. Additional SDI standards include HD-SDI, 3G-SDI, 6G-SDI, and 12G-SDI. HD-SDI was standardized by SMPTE 372M in 1998. It can support 1.485Gbps interface. 3G-SDI consists of a single 2.970Gbps serial link that allows replacing dual link HD-SDI.

3G Digital Video SFPs

3G Video SFP is also named Digital Video SFP. Digital video SFP modules are specially applied for SDI (Serial Digital Interface) data rates from 50 Mbps to 3 Gbps with links of 80 km over single-mode fiber. This kind of SFPs are designed to transmit optical serial digital signals as defined in SMPTE 297-2006, specifically for robust performance in the presence of SDI pathological patterns for SMPTE 259M, SMPTE 344M, SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 424M serial rates.

Digital video SFPs are hot pluggable, easy to use, and offer the highest density optical solution for carrying digital video through optical fiber. The digital video SFP pinout is designed as one slot can be populated with a dual transmitter, dual receiver, single transmitter, single receiver, or a transceiver. Digital video SFP is a cost-effective way to solve the problems during digital video optical transmission, allow the transport of SDI and HD-SDI video signals over any optical transport system that employs MSA standard optical transceivers.

3G Digital Video SFPs Types

3G digital video SFPs include 3G SDI SFP, BiDi SFP and CWDM SFP. According to different standards, it can be divided into different types. Based on the transmission mode, it can be divided into single Tx, single Rx, dual Tx, dual Rx and TR transceivers; by standards into MSA and non-MSA; by operating wavelength into 1310nm, 1490nm, 1550nm and CWDM wave length. 3G digital video SFPs also have 3G video SFP and 3G video pathological patterns due to different applications. Let’s take a look at the details about 3G video pathological patterns SFP.

What are 3G-SDI pathological patterns? Pathological patterns, also called SDI proving ground, are a whole test signal. And it must be done during blackout. This signal is tough to handle by serial digital system, and significant to check the system performance. Pathological patterns often contain the richest low-frequency energy which statistically happens one per frame. Pathological patterns test is also an important indicator of video SFP modules. FS.COM 3Gbps video pathological patterns SFPs are used to transmit optical serial digital signals at the serial rates of SMPTE 259M, SMPTE 344M, SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 424M defined in SMPTE 297-2006. 3Gbps video pathological patterns SFPs with LC interface can transmit optical signals from 50Mbps to 3Gbps reaching the maximum distance of 40km. Both single-mode and multimode video pathological patterns SFPs are available. All modules are hot-pluggable and compatible with SFP MSA. Besides, they can be applied in 3G-SDI/HD-SDI/SD-SDI electrical-optical converter, 3G-SDI/HD-SDI/SD-SDI optical-electrical converter, HD camera or monitor system and high-density digital video routers & switches.

Conclusion

From this article, you must know some information about 3G digital video SFP. Fiberstore offers a full series of low cost but high quality 3G digital video SFPs for your applications covering the link distance of 300 m, 10 km, 20 km, 40 km and 80 km. As the advent of 4K (ultra high definition) market, the demand is growing fast for transporting the 4K in an efficient way. So just expect 6G-SDI or even 12G-SDI products researched and developed by FS.COM.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com

Fiber Optic Components for Building 10G Data Centers

10 Gigabit Ethernet is a telecommunication technology that can support the network speed up to 10 billion bits per second. It’s also known as 10GbE. As 10GbE greatly increases bandwidth, many companies start to upgrade the data centers to meet their growing needs. How to build a 10GbE data center? What kind of equipment will be used except the switch? This article will recommend you some basic 10G solutions.

10G SFP+ Modules

10G SFP+ (small form-factor pluggable plus) modules are hot swappable transceivers that plug into SFP+ slots on switches and support 10G Ethernet. With small form factor, SFP+ transceivers can ensure low power disruption and high port density. Since it’s hot pluggable, the transceiver modules can be added or removed without interrupting the whole network. And SFP+ modules deliver data transmission speed of up to 10Gbit/s, which is 10 times faster than Gigabit Ethernet.

Currently, a wide variety of SFP+ modules can be purchased in the market. For the long distance transmission, modules include SFP-10GBASE-LR, SFP-10GBASE-ER, SFP-10GBASE-ZR, CWDM SFP+ and DWDM SFP+. For the short distance transmission, there are modules like SFP 10GBASE-SR, SFP-10GBASE-LRM. Brands are also versatile such as Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Brocade, etc. To get modules with lower costs, you can pick third-party transceivers which are compatible with these original brands.

LC Patch Cables

Patch cables contain both fiber and copper types. Fiber patch cords, as one of the data transmission media, enjoy great popularity because they have large transmission capacity, strong anti-electromagnetic interference, high security and fast speed. LC fiber patch cord is one of the most common cables for 10G network connection, covering single-mode and multimode categories respectively for data transmission over long distance and short distance. To increase panel density, flexible HD LC push-pull tab fiber patch cable is designed. With its unique design, this patch cable allows the connector to be disengaged easily from densely loaded panels without the need for special tools and give users easy accessibility in narrow areas for data center deployment applications. Another special LC patch cord is uniboot patch cord. It utilizes a special “round duplex” cable that allows duplex transmission within a single cable. It’s good for saving cable management space comparing to standard patch cords.

10G SFP+ Direct Attach Cable Assemblies

10G SFP+ direct attach cable (DAC ) is a cost-effective solution for 10G Ethernet. It’s a low-power alternative to optical SFP+ system. The 10G SFP+ cables provide low-cost and reliable 10G speed with either copper cables over distances up to 10 m or active optical cables reaching distances up to 100 m. Because there is no need for spending on fiber optic transceivers and cables. This kind of cables contain 10G SFP+ copper cables, both passive and active and active optical cable (AOC). Active copper cable and AOC are designed for long distance connection, while passive copper cable is for short distance, such as the interconnection of top-of-rack switches with application servers and storage devices in a rack.

Fiber Enclosure

Fiber enclosure is an equipment you must have in data centers. This component is used to provide a flexible and modular system for managing fiber terminations, connections, and patching in high density data center application to maximize rack space utilization and minimize floor space. Fiber enclosure can be divided into different configurations like rack mount (available in 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U), wall mount, indoor or outdoor. The rack mount enclosure come into three flavors. One is the slide-out type and the other two are removable type and swing out type. Fiberstore introduces high density fiber enclosures with 48 ports, 96 ports and even 288 ports loaded LC FAPs (fiber adapter panels) in 1RU or 4RU rack mount for 10G solutions. Or if you already have the unloaded fiber enclosures, you just need to buy fiber adapter panels.

Conclusion

To build a 10GbE data center, you have to prepare the components, for instance, 10G SFP+ modules, LC patch cables, 10G SFP+ cables, fiber enclosures, etc. You may also need other instruments for testing and cable organization. And all those equipment can be got from FS.COM with higher quality but fewer costs. For more information, you can contact us via sales@fs.com.

Originally published at www.fiber-optic-equipment.com