Know When to Choose the QSFP

Transceivers for Your Network

Nowadays a huge majority of the traffic 40G/100G is

operating globally; the data centers and business network
operators are moving towards the adoption of the 100GbE
connectivity or more to satisfy their bandwidth needs. For the
high speed connectivity they have to look for right type of networking
equipments. The fiber optical transceivers are one of the commonly
used equipments for achieving high speed connections. You can look
for the CFP transceivers that are hot-pluggable devices for the high
speed 100Gbps Ethernet applications and are useful in the data and
telecommunication networks.
Apart from that you can look for SFP transceivers or 40G
CFP transceivers. If you are planning to choose a 40G CFP
transceiver such as the QSFP Transceiver then the first thing you
need to know is how it is structured and when to choose it. The 40G
CFP transceiver is mostly 4x10G and is not over the single pair but is
over four pairs of the fiber. Whereas the 100G is mostly 10x10G and is
over 10 pairs of fiber or 4x25G and is over 4 pairs. Both of them use
the MPO or MTP connectors and so all the 8/20 strands required are
connected into a single convenient connector. The 100G CFP
transceiver module created for metro networks have a long
transmission distance. Relevant CFP transceiver is considered to be
cost competitive along with a 100G direct detection CFP that make use
of 4x25Gbps wavelengths.
The QSFP transceivers are a new MSA or Multi Source
Agreement designed for high-speed applications like 40G-
BASE and they offer 4 channels data in a single pluggable
interface. These transceivers are one type of 40G transceiver and the
channels are capable enough in transferring the data at 10Gbps and
even supports 40Gbps. When compared with any standard SPF+
modules these transceivers have high density and they even cost less.
They are designed for the applications with extremely high-density
having stacked and organized configurations. There are number of
benefits in choosing the QSFP transceivers.
As this type of transceiver integrates 4 high capacity,
individual fiber receiving and transmitting channels, the
density of its ports is increased and total system price is
reduced. When compare to the ports of traditional SFP transceivers
it has three times high density port. Due to that it replaces 4 standard
SFP modules in a place that is just 30% larger than one SFP. Another
benefit of this transceiver is that you can install them in different
standards. That is these transceivers support the Fibre
Channel, Ethernet, SONET/ SDH standards and InfiniBand
with data rates of up to 5Gb/s per a single channel.
The platform is potential for combined high volumes and
enhanced economics obtained from various applications
with susing the same transceiver.
Depending on the distance needs and type of the fiber you can choose
a right type of QSFP Transceiver from the available types. These
transceivers are divided into various categories based on different
criteria. They are classified by the media of transport such as the
copper, single mode fiber or SMF and multimode fiber or MMF.
These three types of transport media are most common ones
in the 40Gigabit Ethernet. Each type of the transceiver will
use different transport media. Based on the Ethernet
standards the common types of 40 Gigabit Ethernet media
system includes QSFP-40G-LR4, QSFP-40G-CR4 and QSFP-
40G-SR4. There may be different connector interfaces for the QSFP
transceivers. By using different technologies various types of
connectors can be installed into the 40 Gigabit Ethernet. Common
types are the Duplex LC, MPO/MTP and MPO. The MTP and MPO are
usually interchangeable. Transmission distance of the QSFP
transceivers is mostly either long range or short range. The QSFP
transceivers of short range can support the link lengths of 100m and
150m over the OM3 multi-mode fiber and OM4 multi-mode fiber.
While the long range type can support a transmission length of 40km.
Wavelength of the channels of these transceivers can be same or
different from one another. Using the 40Gigabit Ethernet is becoming
popular in recent times and different types of transceivers are coming
up with various features. So while selecting the QSFP transceivers it is
important to know your requirements for finding the right one.