Category: Fiber Transceivers

Optical transceivers, Active Optic Cables, data center switches, and cable management in data centers.

SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ Transceiver Overview

The demand for better network throughput and performance has never ceased. Instead, it has become more and more vigorous. The server consolidation, virtualization, as well as networking-service performance improvements, all these have pushed the necessity for dense 40GbE switch connections in data centers.
But when migrating to 40GbE from10GbE, some companies or organizations are challenged by two main factors in re-configuring the physical layer of the network: firstly, the possible reduced reach of the OM3/OM4 multi-mode optics from 10GBASE-SR (300/400 m) to 40GBASE-SR4 (100/150m), and secondly, the need to upgrade the existing fiber optic cabling plant so as to support the IEEE-defined 40GBASE-SR4 parallel optics. In order to avoid these questions, SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ transceiver is brought to the market.
SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ Transceiver Definition
It’s know that a fiber optic transceiver may either operate on single-mode fiber (SMF) or multi-mode fiber (MMF). However, this SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ transceiver is able to communicate with both SMF and MMF, without the need for any software/hardware changes to the transceiver module or any additional hardware in the network. It has 4 channels (1270, 1290,1310, and 1330nm) of 10G multiplexed inside the module to transmit and receive an aggregate 40G signal over 2 strands of fiber with a duplex LC connector.
Based on IEEE defined 40GBASE-LR4 specifications, this supports distances up to 150m over OM3 or OM4 MMF and up to 500m over SMF. Certainly, different fiber optic equipment vendors may have different specifications.
SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ Transceiver Advantages
SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ transceiver is designed for seamless migrations from existing 10GbE to 40GbE networking without modification or expansion of the fiber network. It addresses several challenges faced by today’s data centers and the passages highlight the advantages of this transceiver.
No Redesign or Expansion of Fiber Network
Other short-reach 40G QSFP+ transceiver types, such as MMF 40GBASE-SR4 transceivers (100m over OM3 MMF), utilize four independent 10G transmitters and receivers for an aggregate 40G link. These 40GBASE-SR4 transceivers (eg. JG325B) use a MPO-12 connector and require 8-fiber parallel OM3 or OM4. As a result, customers installing MTP/MPO fiber systems may need to deploy new fiber while upgrading from 10G to 40G. However, SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ transceiver uses duplex LC connector, which is consistent with the existing 10G connections. It works on existing OM3 and OM4 MMF infrastructure which is widely installed and used for 10GbE networks, thus free from redesign or expansion of the fiber network.
Increase in the Number of 40G Links
The existing MMF 40GbE solutions use of 8 fibers for a 40G link, and customers have to add additional fiber if they want to increase the number of 40G links. But if you deploy SMF&MMF 40G QSFP+ transceiver, the number of 40G links is 4our times of that existing MMF 40GbE solutions without any changes to their fiber infrastructure. During this link increase, the network scale and performance are also expanded.
A Cost-effective Solution for SMF Infrastructure
Limited in the distance reach that multi-mode transceivers can support, the migration from 10G to 40G, to 100G, or even 400G would become simpler with SMF. But single-mode transceivers typically cost up to 4 times more compared to multi-mode transceivers. Since SMF&MMF QSFP+ transceiver interoperates with QSFP-LR4 and QSFP-LR4L optics, it’s a cost effective solution for SM fiber infrastructure for distances up to 500m. And customers can deploy mixed connections without fiber concerns.
Simplification in Infrastructure Deployment
SMF&MMF QSFP+ transceiver boasts of the unique characteristic of working through both SMF and MMF without any requirement for additional fiber. Customers can consolidate their optics and use SMF&MMF QSFP+ transceiver in their network without concern about the fiber type, which makes the full use of existing cabling infrastructure, leading to the reduced equipment cost and simplification of deployment.

 

Solutions 40G Parallel & Bidirectional Optical Transceiver Introduction

Speeds in data centers have maintained their growth in the past years, and will continue to do so in the predictable future. High-data-rate systems have become increasingly popular among some enterprises for high-performance computing networks, such as 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) infrastructure, in which 40G fiber optic transceivers and cables are needed to ensure the high-performance and great-bandwidth of the 40GbE system. This article mainly introduces 40G fiber optic transceivers: the plable optical Enhanced Quad Small Form-Factor Plable (QSFP+), with focus on the bidirectional optical transceivers and parallel optical transceivers.
The transceiver is an electronic device that receives an electrical signal, converts it into a light signal, and launches the signal into a fiber. It also receives the light signal, from another transceiver, and converts it into an electrical signal. With the 40G QSFP being the dominant transceiver form factor used for 40GbE applications, the IEEE standard 802.3ba released several 40-Gbps based solutions in 2010, including a 40GBASE-SR4 parallel optics solution for multi-mode fiber (MMF). Another solution is a bidirectional 40-Gbps transceiver that uses a two-fiber LC optical interface.
40G Parallel Optical Transceiver
40G parallel optical transceiver enables high-bandwidth 40G optical links over 12-fiber parallel fiber terminated with MPO/MTP connectors. Four fibers on one side are used to transmit, while another four on the other side are utilized to receive, leaving the middle four fibers unused. In total, eight of the twelve fiber are used. That is to say, when used for 40GBASE-SR4 and 40GBASE-CSR4, parallel optical transceiver has 10-Gbps electrical lanes that are mirrored in the optical outputs, causing the requirement of eight fibers with a MTP connector interface. Each fiber either transmits (Tx) or receives (Rx) 10-Gbps traffic at a single wavelength.
Just as mentioned above, 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ transceiver belongs to 40G parallel optical transceivers, which uses multi-mode MPO trunks to establish 40G links. This port type 40G QSFP+ module can support link lengths of 100 meters and 150 meters over laser-optimized OM3 and OM4 MMFs respectively. It can also be used to connect with four 10GBASE-SR optical interfaces using an 8-fiber MTP to 4 duplex LC cable. Fiberstore listed 40GBASE-SR4 optical transceivers are fully compatible with such famous brands, as Cisco, Intel, Juniper (QFX-QSFP-40G-SR4), and so on. All are quality-and compatiblity-assured, offering the high performance to customers.
40G Bidirectional Optical Transceiver
By contrast, 40G bidirectional optical transceiver consists of two 20-Gbps transmit and receive channels, enabling an aggregated 40-Gbps link over a two-strand MMF connection. That is, the bidirectional optical transceiver used for 40GBASE-SR-BD uses the same 10-Gbps electrical lanes, which are then combined in the optical outputs, thus requiring two fibers with an LC connector interface. Each fiber simultaneously transmits and receives 20-Gbps traffic at two different wavelengths.
Cabling Options for 40G Parallel & Bidirectional Optical Transceiver
Cabling Options for 40G Parallel Optical Transceiver
As previously mentioned, in 2010 IEEE 802.3ba approved the 40GBASE-SR4 physical-medium-dependent (PMD) multi-mode parallel optic solution, which uses eight fibers to transmit four duplex channels each at 10-Gbps. This is an economical path to 40GbE data rates, while using many of components of 10GbE solutions. The main advantage of the parallel optical transceiver over the bidirectional transceiver at 40GbE is the reach. For example, if you cable your data center with OM3 at 10GbE, you can support distances up to 300m. Then if you move to 40GbE, you can support the same 300m distance with the same OM3 fiber and a 40GBASE-CSR4 transceiver. However, if your cabling distances do not justify the extra distance capability, then the bidirectional solution would be used.
There exists a problem in this parallel optical cabling solution—MTP cable assemblies which built on 12-fiber position connectors, leaving four unused fibers in each link. There are several basic cabling options for parallel optics connectivity. One approach is to ignore the unused fibers and continue to deploy 12 fibers. Another approach is to use a conversion device to convert two 12-fiber links into three 8-fiber links.
Cabling Options for 40G Bidirectional Optical Transceiver
This two-fiber 40G bidirectional multi-mode solution tackles the challenge—polarity correction that occurs in a 12-fiber MTP connector., using two different transmission windows (850 and 900nm) that are transmitted bidirectionally over the same fiber. This approach allows the use of the same cabling infrastructure for 40GbE as was used for 1 and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The plable bidirectional transceiver has the same QSFP+ format as the existing 40GBASE-SR4 transceivers. Therefore, the same switch line card with QSFP+ ports can support either parallel optics 40GBASE-SR4 or bidirectional optics 40GBASE-SR-BD solutions.
As such, while connecting a 40GbE bidirectional transceiver to another bidirectional transceiver, a Type A-to-B standard LC duplex patch cord can be considered, with one fiber in connector position A on one end and in connector position B on the other end. Such reverse fiber positioning allows a signal to be directed from the transmit position on one end of the network to the receive position on the other end of the network. However, this direct connectivity is recommended only within a given row of cabinets.

Cabling Data Center Process: Planning & Implementing its Infrastructure

Today’s data centers are the home to diverse bandwidth-demanding devices, like servers, storage systems, and backup devices which are interconnected by networking equipment. All these devices drive the need for reliable and manageable cabling infrastructure with higher performance and more flexibility for today and future growth. While managing the cabling in data centers, two main processes are included: planning the cabling infrastructure and implementing the cables.
Planning the Cabling Infrastructure
As networking equipment becomes denser, and port counts in data centers increase to several hundred ports, managing cables connected to these devices becomes a difficult challenge. Thus, during planning the cabling infrastructure, it’s wise to do the following:
Choosing Fiber Cable Assembly
This assembly has a single connector at one end of the cable and multiple duplex breakout cables at the other end, an alternative to avoid cable management. The LC (Lucent Connector) –MPO (Multifiber Push-On) breakout cable assemblies are designed to do just that. The idea is to pre-connect the high-density, high- port-count LC equipment with LC-MPO breakout cable to dedicated MPO modules within a dedicated patch panel, reducing equipment cabling clutter and improving cable management. This image below show the LC-MPO breakout cable assembly that consolidates six duplex LC ports into one MPO connection.
Nowadays, this breakout technology is widely used in 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) applications. Like QSFP-4X10G-AOC10M, this product is the QSFP to four SFP+ active optical breakout cable assembly with the 10m short reach.
Using Color to Identify Cables
Color coding simplifies management and can save you hours when you need to trace cables. Cables are available in many colors (table shown below). For instance, multi-mode fiber (MMF) looks in orange (OM1, OM2) and in aqua (OM3), while yellow is usually the color of single-mode fiber (SMF) which is taken as the transmission media when the required distance is as long as 2km, or 10km . Take WSP-Q40GLR4L for example, this 40GBASE-LR4L QSFP+ transceiver works through SMF for 2km link length.
Implementing the Cabling Infrastructure
While implementing the cables, the following tasks should be obeyed by.
Testing the Links
Testing cables throughout the installation stage is imperative. Any cables that are relocated or terminated after testing should be retested. Although testing is usually carried out by an authorized cabling implementer, you should obtain a test report for each cable installed as part of the implementation task.
Building a Common Framework for the Racks
this step is to stage a layout that can be mirrored across all racks in data centers for consistency, management, and convenience. Starting with an empty 4-post rack or two, build out and establish an internal standard for placing patch panels, horizontal cable managers, vertical cable managers, and any other devices that are planned for placement into racks or a group of racks. The INTENTION is to fully cable up the common components while monitoring the cooling, power, equipment access, and growth for the main components in the racks.
A good layout discourages cabling in between racks due to lack of available data ports or power supply ports, allowing more power outlets and network ports than you need. This will save you money in the long run as rack density increases, calling for more power and network connectivity. Using correct length cables, route patch cables up or down through horizontal patch panels alleviates overlapping other ports. Some cable slack may be needed to enable easy removal of racked equipment.
Documentation
Typically, the most critical task in cable management is to document the complete infrastructure: including diagrams, cable types, patching information, and cable counts. It’s advised update the documentation and keep it accessible to data center staff on a share drive or intranet Web site.
Stocking Spare Cables
It’s sestible to maintain an approximately the same amount on the installed cabling and ports in use, so as to face the environment variation or emergency.

Two Main Questions About Direct Attach Cables

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The increasing bandwidth demands in data centers call for new cost-effective network solutions that are able to provide great bandwidth and improved power efficiency. As such, direct attach cables (DACs) are designed to replace expensive fiber optic cables in some Ethernet applications, like choosing SFP+ DACs and QSFP+ DACs accordingly as 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 40GbE cabling solutions to achieve high performance. How much do you know about this kind of cable? Do you know its such basic information as classifications? If not, then you can follow this article to understand DAC in depth based on the two main questions.
Question 1: What Is DAC?
DAC, a kind of optical transceiver assembly, is a form of high speed cable with “transceivers” on either end used to connect switches to routers or servers. Often referred to as twin-ax, this direct attach twin-axial cable is very similar to coaxial cable, except for one additional copper conductor core. DACs are much cheaper than the regular optics, since the “transceivers” on both ends of DACs are not real optics and their components are without optical lasers. In some 10GbE and 40GbE infrastructures, DACs have been selected to replace fiber optic patch cord when the required link length is relatively short. And in storage area network, data center, and high-performance computing connectivity, DACs are preferable choice because of their low cost, low power consumption and high performances.
Question 2: How DAC Is Classified?
When it comes to DAC’s classifications, there exist two primary standards: Ethernet transmission rate, material of cables.
Based on Ethernet transmission rate and construction standard, 10G SFP+ DACs, 40G QSFP+ DACs, and 120G CXP+ DACs are all available, meaning that DAC can be used as transmission medium for 10GbE, 40GbE, and 120GbE applications when combined as transceivers. Typical DAC assemblies have one connector on each end of the cable. Take SFP-10G-AOC1M for example, this Cisco compatible SFP+ to SFP+ Direct-Attach Active Optical Cable assembly has one SFP+ connector on each end of the cable, designed for relatively short reach that is 1m.
According to material of cables used, DACs are available in direct attach copper cables and active optical cables (AOCs).
Direct Attach Copper Cable
Direct attach copper cables are designed in either active or passive versions, providing flexibility with a choice of 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-meter lengths. The former provides signal processing electronics to avoid signal issue, thus to improve signal quality. What’s more, the former can transmit data over a longer distance than the latter which offers a direct electrical connection between corresponding cable ends. Both direct attach passive copper cables and direct attach active copper cables have gained popularity in data centers. For instance, EX-QSFP-40GE-DAC-50CM, the Juniper 40G cabling product, hot-removable and hot-insertable, is the QSFP+ to QSFP+ direct attach passive copper cable assembly, really suitable for short distances of up to 0.5m(1.6ft), appropriate for highly cost-effective networking connectivity within a rack and between adjacent racks.Active Optical Cable
AOC is also one form of DAC. It uses electrical-to-optical conversion on the cable ends to improve speed and distance performance of the cable while mating with electrical interface standard. Compared with direct attach copper cable, its smaller size, electromagnetic interference immunity, lower interconnection loss and longer transmission distance make it popular among consumers.
DACs offer great flexibility in cabling length choices, simplify server connectivity in top-of-rack deployments, and reduce the power needed to transmit data. More importantly, DACs ensure high system reliability after going through rigorous qualification and certification testing, helping network designers to achieve new levels of infrastructure consolidation while expanding application and service capabilities.

Considerations About Fiber Optic Transceiver Designing

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The rapid expansion of fiber optic networks, including data services measured by data volume or bandwidth, shows that fiber optic transmission technology is and will continue to be a significant part of future networking systems. Network designers are becoming increasingly comfortable with fiber solutions, since the use of which allows for more flexible network architecture and other advantages, such as EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) resilience and data security. Fiber optic transceivers play an really important role in these fiber connections. And while designing fiber optic transceivers, three aspects need to be considered: environmental situation, electrical condition and optical performance.
What Is a Fiber Optic Transceiver?
The fiber optic transceiver is a self-contained component that transmits and receives signals. Usually, it is inserted in devices such as routers or network interface cards which provide one or more transceiver module slot. The transmitter takes an electrical input and converts it to an optical output from a laser diode or LED. The light from the transmitter is coupled into the fiber with a connector and is transmitted through the fiber optic cable plant. Then the light from the end of the fiber is coupled to a receiver where a detector converts the light into an electrical signal which is then conditioned properly for use by the receiving equipment. There are a full range of optical transceivers available in telecommunication market, like SFP transceiver, SFP+ transceiver (eg. SFP-10G-SR shown below), 40G QSFP+, 100G CFP, etc.
Designing Considerations
It’s true that fiber links can handle higher data rates over longer distances than copper solutions, which drive the even wider use of fiber optic transceivers. While designing fiber optic transceivers, the following aspects should be taken into consideration.
Environmental Situation
One challenge comes to the outside weather—especially severe weather at elevated or exposed heights. The components must operate over extreme environmental conditions, over a wider temperature range. The second environmental issue related to the fiber optic transceiver design is the host board environment which contains the system power dissipation and thermal dissipation characteristics.
A major advantage of the fiber optic transceiver is the relatively low electrical power requirements. However, this low power does not exactly mean that the thermal design can be ignored when assembling a host configuration. Sufficient ventilation or airflow should be included to help dissipate thermal energy that is drawn off the module. Part of this requirement is addressed by the standardized SFP cage which is mounted on the host board and also serves as a conduit for thermal energy. Case temperature reported by the Digital Monitor Interface (DMI), when the host operates at its maximum design temperature, is the ultimate test of the effectiveness of the overall system thermal design.
Electrical Condition
Essentially, the fiber transceiver is an electrical device. In order to maintain error free performance for the data passing through the module, the power supply to the module must be stable and noise-free. What’s more, the power supply driving the transceiver must be appropriately filtered. The typical filters have been specified in the Multisource Agreements (MSAs) which have guided the original designs for these transceivers. One such design in the SFF-8431 specification is shown below.
Optical Performance
Optical performance is measured as Bit Error Rate, or BER. The problem facing designing optical transceiver lie in the case that the optical parameters for the transmitter and receiver have to be controlled, so that any possible degradation of the optical signal while traveling along the fibers will not cause poor BER performance. The primary parameter of relevance is the BER of the complete link. That is, the start of the link is the source of the electrical signals which drive the transmitter, and at the end, the electrical signal is received and interpreted by the circuitry in the host by the receiver. For those communication links which use optical transceivers, the primary goal is to guarantee BER performance at different link distances, and to ensure broad interoperability with third party transceivers from different vendors.

Transceiver Selection Guide for Your Networking Use

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Thanks to the advances made in fiber optical technologies, fiber solutions have been deployed in ever-increasing applications where high-speed and high-performance data transmission is needed. They outweigh the copper solutions in such aspects as higher bandwidth, longer distances and Electromagnetic interference (EMI) immunity. Transceivers, one of the key components required in such fiber connections for high networking performance, have experienced the never-ceasing industrial designs, from lower port density to higher, from the standard modules to the final hot-plable ones, to meet the ever more flexible networking infrastructure.
There is a broad selection of hot-plable transceiver modules available for fiber networking use, and you may feel a little confused about how to select the correct transceivers for your networking transmission. In this article, I will illustrate different aspects of transceivers that need to be known before choosing a transceiver.
Transceiver Basics
Before giving guidance to transceiver selection, it’s necessary to know the basics of transceiver. Transceiver is a combination of a transmitter and a receiver in a single package, while they function independently for bidirectional communication. Typically, a fiber optic transceiver converts the incoming optical signal to electrical and the outgoing electrical signal to optical. More specifically, the transmitter takes an electrical input and converts it to an optical output from a laser diode or LED. The light from the transmitter is coupled into the fiber with a connector and is transmitted through the fiber optic cable plant. The light from the end of the fiber is coupled to a receiver where a detector converts the light into an electrical signal which is then conditioned properly for use by the receiving equipment.
Here go the several aspects of transceivers that are helpful in your purchasing.
Form-factor
Multi-source agreements (MSAs) between different equipment vendors specify guidelines for electrical and optical interfaces, mechanical dimensions and electro-magnetic specification of a transceiver. The equipment vendors follow these MSA defined values for designing their systems to ensure interoperability between interface modules. The form-factor or the MSA-type is needed so that the transceiver can mechanically and electrically fit into a given switch, router, etc. Transceiver MSAs define mechanical form factors including electric interface as well as power consumption and cable connector types. There are various MSA types: SFP (eg. MGBSX1), SFP+, XFP, CFP, CFP2, CFP4, QSFP and so on.
Transmission Media
Transceivers can work over single-mode fiber (SMF), multi-mode fiber (MMF), and copper. In different Ethernet applications, media can achieve different link lengths when combined with transceivers. Take Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) applications for example, single-mode transceivers can have a transmission distance of 5km to 120km, while multi-mode transceivers are defined to have the maximum reach of 55om, with copper solution establishing even fewer link length at 25m. Take MGBLX1 for example, this Cisco compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP works through SMF for 10km reach.
Power Budget
The transceiver power budget is the difference between transmitter launch power and receiver sensitivity and has to be 2-3dB larger (Margin) than the measured link loss. If the link loss cannot be measured, it has to be calculated. Therefore transmission distance [km], the number of ODFs, patches and passive optical components (Muxes) have to be known. Common values for power budget are <10, 14, 20, 24, 28, >30dB.
If you’re seeking high-speed data carrier, transceivers can help accomplish goals. By transmitting data at 10Gbit/s, 40Gbit/s, 100Gbit/s or 12940Gbit/s, they can ensure that data arrives quickly. Transceiver modules that are capable of handling fast speeds can help with downloads and high and low bandwidth video transmission.