Category: Fiber Transceivers

by http://www.fiber-mart.comThe products that adopt a certain standard called HDMI is getting bigger. Meanwhile, the demand for better solutions of public display and media transmission is unprecedentedly increasing. HDMI 2.0 is the most popular standard for now, along with HDMI 1.3 and HDMI 1.4. When it comes to the product itself, it can be classified based on how far they can transmit the signal. Here is a category provided by 10Gtek which is a manufacturer in Shenzhen to give us a glimpse of HDMI related products. 1. Short Range (0-10 meters)When the need for distance is under 10 meters, HDMI copper cable which is quite common now in your room is the only product that you can expect. As a copper cable, it can transfer electricity as well though it might limit the transmission speed of the signal. Currently, there are HDMI 1.3, 1.4 and 2.0 of HDMI copper cable can be bought in stores. 2. Medium Range (10-100 meters)For the medium range of around 10 to 100 meters. There are HDMI AOC (Active Optical cable), HDMI transceiver and HDMI extender provided by 10Gtek. It’s not that hard to comprehend the usage of AOC and transceiver since they are pretty same as those in Data Center, all you need to do is plugging in the AOC or transceiver correctly. By the way, 10Gtek provides transceivers of HDMI 1.3, extenders of HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 1.4. Unlike the optical transceivers, the HDMI transceivers may need to be additionally powered by USB Input Power Adapters. The chipset of the transceiver (TV) is SD1512, VL1503 and of the transceiver (DVD) is SD1502, VL1503. Actually, it might take some time to understand the operational principle behind the extender. Logically, the extender has the same purpose as the converter, which is to further the transmission range of devices. There is an only difference between the extender and converter, which is whether the transition happens in the appliance, if it happens then it’s an extender, vice versa. In addition, the chipset of the extender here is MAX3815. 3. Long Range (over 100 meters)Converters are the ideal choice for transmission range of over 100 meters. It can reach further than the extender because the signal will be transited from electricity to light during the transmission to reduce the signal loss. Please be aware of the sign of ‘TV’ and ‘DVD’ on the device since they indicate a correct connection. For instance, ‘DVD’ which means the transmitter (or sender), should be linked to signal source, while ‘TV’ stands for the receiver and therefore it should be linked to a monitor. 10Gtek’s converters support HDMI 1.4 and standard SFP+ port. The chipset of converter we have mentioned is SD1512 for DVD side and SD1502 for TV side. ConclusionIn fact, HDMI related products are more than what we have mentioned above. There are HDMI switch, HDMI splitter, HDMI matrix, and HDMI adapter will be introduced in articles written by fiber-mart.com later.

by http://www.fiber-mart.comWith the sharp increased of Ethernet data processing in the applicable field of cloud computing, super computer, IDC and enterprise data center etc., we are now seeing large demand of I/O. To keep pace with network development and meet the demand, transmission data rates have upgraded from 1Gb/s to 10Gb/s. To accomplish 10GBASE Ethernet network, there are different existing solutions to the access including DAC(Direct Attach Cable) and 10GBASE-T SFP+ transceiver. Each of which comes with distinguished benefits and shortages from each other. But the 10G SFP+ copper transceiver achieves the connectivity with power saving by employing CAT6a/7 cabling structure, and it has a advantage of much flexible usage. 10GBASE-T SFP+ Copper Transceiver Overview10GBASE-T, know as the standard of IEEE802.an, which was released in 2006 support 10Gbps Ethernet network over un-shielded or shielded twinax cables(CAT6/CAT7) with a distance of up to 30m by CAT6 copper. It has developed by the forth generation BASE-T technology of IEEE standard. Upon combined with RJ45 connector and un-shielded twisted pair copper cable to implement 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps and 10Gbps data transmission,while compatible application with previous generations. Noticeably, this is the first 10G SFP+ module with RJ45 connector available to deliver a rate of up to 10Gb/s over copper cables. By Compliant with SFF-8431 and SFF-8432 MSA(Multi Source Agreement), the 10G SFP+ copper transceiver is typically invented for high speed network transmission based on 10G Ethernet. SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable Basics10G SFP+ DAC is established on copper inter-connectivity by using a twinax cable assembly to connect with SFP+ housing. It substitutes the costly optical transceiver required in the Ethernet deployment and tremendously decreases the power consumption, latency and installation time. Based on above, it’s the prior choice of SFP+ DAC to adapt to modern 10G network with requirement of short-distance and high-speed. With a limited transmitted length of up to 12m, SPF+ DAC is very much general used in intra-rack and inter-rack connections. such as interconnected with top-of-rack switches and servers, as well as between storage devices in one rack or neighboring racks. 10GBASE-T SFP+ Modules Vs. SFP+ DAC CablesIn terms of transmission length, 10GBASE-T SFP+ is 30m much wider range than SFP+ 10G copper cable which is 7m. 10GBASE-T SFP+ Module has low power consumption copper module which is meaningful to heavy-loaded 10G data center. Despite 10G SFP+ DAC cable has considerably lower overall cost when the counting includes switch, NIC and cable, however 10GBASE-T copper SFP+ transceiver features better flexibility and broader reach length. For data centers, SFP+ 10G copper cable is very much good enough for it’s  transmission requirement, that’s why SFP+ DAC is popular and practical to new data centers. But for wiring closets, 10GBASE-T copper SFP+ module is definitely a priority in order to meet a comprehensive demand of broaden bandwidth, competitive price and down power consumption. ConclusionConsidering above benefits compared SPF+ DAC, we believe 10GBASE-T SFP+ copper transceiver is your first choice to build a flexible and cost-effective 10G Ethernet network. With the continual decrease of it’s price and power consumption, 10GBASE-T will just tend to be more and more popular than SFP+ solutions in 10G rack-based data center that use ToR Switch. 

by http://www.fiber-mart.comWhat’s SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable?10G SFP+ DAC is established on copper inter-connectivity by using a twinax cable assembly to connect with SFP+ housing. It substitutes the costly optical transceiver required in the Ethernet deployment and tremendously decreases the power consumption, latency and installation time. Based on above, it’s the prior choice of SFP+ DAC to adapt to modern 10G network with requirement of short-distance and high-speed. With a limited transmitted length of up to 12m, SPF+ DAC is very much general used in intra-rack and inter-rack connections. such as interconnected with top-of-rack switches and servers, as well as between storage devices in one rack or neighboring racks. Active or Passive?Generally speaking, SFP+ DAC active cable is much expensive than SFP+ DAC passive cable. This is because of it needs DC power to integrate signal processing circuitry into the built-in connectors of SFP+ DAC active cable with a length link of up to 12m, while the passive cable doesn’t have electrical components so it requires little or no power to operate. Suggestion on how to choose active or passive depends on the transmit distance you require: passive for transmit link no greater than 7m but active is for more than 7m. Branded or Compatible?An OEM SFP+ DAC is much more costly than a compatible SFP+ DAC. Based on identical industry standard, users are strongly suggested to buy compatible SPF+ DAC twinax cable with competitive price but same performance as branded ones. By rigorously testing and verifying, 10Gtek supplies SFP+ to SFP+ copper twinax cable which are compatible with prevailing manufactures such as Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Brocade and Extreme etc., in this way, cost-effective is no more a obstacle to connect with various brands of devices. AWG and Length Wire Gauge is another important factor to consider SFP+ DAC twinax cable, which is in different specs of 24AWG, 26AWG, 28AWG and 30AWG. To explain, 24AWG(active) is adapted to a length of up to 12m while 30AWG(active) can support a length of up to 7m only. That is to say, the longer distance of transmission, the lower AWG rating is required. Can SFP+ DAC Twinax Cable be Connected to SFP Ports?Yes, you can plug SFP+ DAC twinax cable to SFP ports because of its attribute of backward compatibility. But reversely SFP cable is not compatible to SFP+ ports, even it can be plugged into SFP+ ports but that won’t work because it’s not a 10Gb/s data rate design of SFP cable.

by http://www.fiber-mart.com10GBASE-T, or IEEE 802.3an-2006, is a standard released in 2006 to provide 10Gbit/s connections over unshielded or shielded twisted pair cables, with distances up to 30 meters (98 ft) with RJ45 connectors on an electrical transceiver (or copper transceiver). It’s backward-compatible with existing 1GbE (1 Gigabit Ethernet) networks, meaning that it can be deployed based on existing 1GbE switch infrastructures in data centers that are cabled with CAT6 and CAT6A (or above) cabling. 10GBASE-T is a cabling solution of 10GbE, the other 10GbE cabling solutions include SFP+ fiber (10G-SR,10G-LR,10G-LRM, etc.), SFP+ Direct Attach Cable (DAC), SFP+ Active Optical Cable (AOC). The most outstanding difference between optical transceivers and electrical transceivers is the transport media they use, as a result, optical transceivers should be linked with optical fiber and electrical transceivers should be linked with networking cables such as CAT6. Generally, transceivers are meant to be optical because there are RJ45 electrical ports on switches for potential connection need of networking cables. However, the fact is we don’t have enough RJ45 electrical ports on the switch for networking cabling every now and then, it’s unlikely to replace the functional switch merely for a temporary or occasional use of electrical ports. In this case, a product that can convert the optical port to the electrical port, which is a 10GBASE-T copper transceiver can certainly give you a hand. Even more than that, the 10GBASE-T copper transceiver, for example, the 10G-SFP-T (SFP-10G-T-S) of 10Gtek, can backward-compatible with 100/1000Base-T as well, surely it’s a good news for those Data Centers built years ago, by this means the owner can save a bunch of budget from it. Even so, in order to achieve the expected effect, the electrical transceivers inevitably consume more power than optical transceivers, which limits the amount of 10GBASE-T transceivers being installed at the same time. Whether the chipset is Marvell or Broadcom, the power consumption of electrical transceivers is still 2.5 W. As to the chipset, 10Gtek is applying Marvell on the 10G-SFP-T because it costs lesser than Broadcom though they have the same function. 

by http://www.fiber-mart.com1.What is QSFP28 transceiver?A: The QSFP28 transceiver is a high-rate optical module for 100G Ethernet. It employs QSFP form factor. The QSFP28 transceiver has four signal channels, each with a maximum transmission rate of 28 Gbps. It is available in a variety of fiber link distances. The QSFP28 transceiver is used in the InfiniBand system, called EDR. EDR QSFP28 transceiver has stricter performance requirements. 2.What are the main applications of the QSFP28 transceiver?A: The QSFP28 transceiver is mainly employed in the data center for 100G connections of core switches and core routers. 3.What are the main types of 100G transceiver?A: There are QSFP28 transceivers, CFP4 transceivers, CFP2 transceivers, CFP transceivers.Currently, the main 100G transceiver is the QSFP28 transceiver. 4.Is it possible to insert QSFP+ transceivers to QSFP28 fiber ports for use?A: No. Different communication protocols were complied for different data rates. 5.What are the differences between SFP28 and QSFP28 transceivers?A: They are different on data rate, form factor and working principle.The transmission data rate of SFP28 transceiver is 25 Gbps, that of QSFP28 is 100 Gbps;The form factor of SFP28 is SFP, that of QSFP28 is QSFP;The SFP28 transceiver uses single-channel transmission and has a transmission rate of 25 Gbps;The QSFP28 transceiver uses four channels of transmission with a transmission rate of 25 Gbps per channel. 7.Can the QSFP28 transceiver work with CFP transceiver?A: Yes! Both are products of the Ethernet protocol and can interoperate with each other. 8.What is the operating temperature range of QSFP28 transceiver?A: The standard operating temperature range of QSFP28 transceiver commercial version is 0°C to 70°C; that of industrial version is -45°C to +85°C;Commercial version products are generally applied. There are also some data centers that use products with operating temperatures ranging from 20°C to 50°C to reduce costs. 9.What are the differences between transceivers QSFP28 CWDM4 and QSFP28 LR4?A: The wavelength is different.The operating wavelength of the QSFP28 LR4 transceiver is 1295nm, 1300nm, 1305nm, 1310nm, and the wavelength interval is 5nm;The operating wavelength of the QSFP28 CWDM4 transceiver is 1271nm, 1291nm, 1311nm, 1331nm, wavelength interval 20nm;The QSFP28 LR4 transceiver and the QSFP28 CWDM4 transceiver have different working wavelengths and cannot communicate with each other. 10.What are the differences between transceivers QSFP28 SR4 and QSFP28 LR4?A: They are different in transmission distance, fiber core, interface type and price. The QSFP28 SR4 transceiver supports link lengths of up to 70m over OM3 and up to 100m over OM4 multimode fiber with MPO connectors.The QSFP28 LR4 transceiver supports link lengths of up to 10km over a standard pair of G.652 single-mode fiber with duplex LC connectors. The QSFP28 SR4 transceiver requires 8-core fiber, while the QSFP28 LR4 optical module requires a 2-core fiber. The interface of the QSFP28 SR4 transceiver is MTP/MPO interface, while that of the QSFP28 LR4 transceiver is the LC interface. 11.What is FEC (Forward Error Correction)? Does the QSFP+ module need to use the FEC function?A: QSFP+ transceiver does not require FEC function. FEC (Forward Error Correction) is a method to increase the credibility of data communication.In a one-way transmission channel, once an error is found, the receiver will not have the right to request a transmission. FEC corrects errors during signal transmission. When an error occurs in the transmission, the receiver is allowed to reconstruct the data.In the design of transceivers, the cost of FEC function is relatively high and is generally rarely used. 12.What is QSFP BIDI transceiver?A: The QSFP Bidi transceiver refers to the QSFP+ single-fiber bidirectional (Bidi) optical module applied to 40G Ethernet. The QSFP Bidi transceiver is mainly used by Cisco, and there are fewer suppliers currently acquiring the technology. The interface of the QSFP Bidi transceiver is a dual LC interface.The transmission rate of the QSFP Bidi transceiver is 40 Gbps.The operating wavelength of the QSFP Bidi transceiver is 850nm/890nm.The QSFP Bidi transceiver is used on multimode fiber, supporting link distance is up to 100 meters over OM3 and up to 150 meters over OM4.The QSFP Bidi transceiver has two signal channels, each with a transmission rate of 20 Gbps. Each channel can perform both transmit and receive operations on two wavelengths simultaneously. In this way, the access layer can be accelerated from 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps through two multimode LC fibers.

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SFP+ transceiver is very popular in many data center and enterprise servers network application. As we all known, 10G SFP+ transceivers have a big branch family. Different SFP+ transceivers can provide a wide variety of connectivity options. There are several approaches for us to understand 10G SFP+ transceivers family. For example, with the compliance to different 10G Ethernet standard, we can classify transceivers as 10GBase-SR, 10GBase-LR, 10GBase-ER, 10GBase-ZR etc. Or viewing from the port type, we can see the difference between the SFP+ transceiver configured with duplex LC connector or a RJ-45 connector. But there is another approach we can understand and distinguish SFP+ transceivers. And That is waht I am going to talk about: the Connecting Cable Types. 1.Copper Cable 10GBase-T SFP+ is a transceiver configured with a RJ-45 port, which means that it uses copper cable to provide connections of 10G transmission speed. Cat 6, cat 6a or cat 7 copper cable is required in this situation. As for the transmission distance, it only supports a link length of up to 30 meters. 10GBase-T SFP+ transceiver is a suitable one for very short distances and offer a cost-effective way to connect within racks and across adjacent racks. 2.Multi-mode fiber 10GBase-SR SFP+ is the transceiver using multi-mode fiber to transfer data in SFP+ family. It is using 850nm wavelength. 10GBaase-SR transceiver supports a link length of 26m on standard Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)-grade multi-mode fiber. Using OM3 multi-mode fiber, up to 300m link lengths are possible. Using OM4 multi-mode, up to 400m link lengths are possible. 3.Both single-mode fiber & multi-mode fiber available 10GBase-LX4 and 10GBase-LRM transceiver is using both single-mode fiber and multi-mode fiber to transfer data. 10GBase-LX4 transceiver uses CWDM technology to divide 12.5 GB/s data streams into four 3.125 GB/s data streams that are propagated in optical fibers. And due to the 8B/10B encoding, the effective data flow is 10 GB/s. But 10GBase-LX4 transceiver has the disadvantages of high cost and much power consumption. Therefore,it has a very narrow market. 10GBase-LRM transceiver is a replacement of 10GBASE-LX4 transceiver, allowing distances up to 220 meters. It supports link lengths of 220m on standard Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) grade Multi-mode Fiber. There’s one thing to notice. To make sure that specifications are met over FDDI-grade, OM1 and OM2 fibers, the transceiver should be coupled through a mode conditioning patch cord. No mode conditioning patch cord is required for applications over OM3 or OM4. Besides, using standard single-mode fiber, 10GBase-LRM module also can support a link length of 300m. In general, multi-mode fiber connecting is the most application scenario for 10GBase-LRM transceiver. 4.Single-mode fiber There are three basic kinds of transceivers using single-mode fibers to transfer data in SFP+ family: 10GBase-LR, 10GBase-ER, 10GBase-ZR. With carrying different wavelength, every transceiver can reach up different distances. For example, 10GBase-LR transceiver can support a link length of up to 10 kilometers. 10GBase-ER transceiver can support a link length of up to 40 kilometers. 10GBase-ZR transceiver can support a link length of up to 80 kilometers. Due to a superior transmission range and usually a long length of optic fiber cable, using these three transceivers means much higher cost. So these three kinds of transceivers are the better option where budget is not a constraint, or when the demand for long cable system. Conclusion From the perspective of connecting cable types, we will have a more clear image of 10G SFP+ transceiver. In fact, we can easily draw the conclusion: different cable types constrain the transmission distance of the 10G SFP+ transceiver. The range of transmission distance is an important consideration factor of selecting SFP+ transceivers. Below is a detailed table for 10G SFP+ transceivers offered by fibe-mart.com, which gives you more reference information.