Choosing 10G SFP+ Modules for Cisco Switches
10G fiber optic network has been widely spread in today’s telecommunication network. The Cisco 10GBASE SFP+ modules offer customers a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications. If you choose a Cisco switch, Cisco original brand or Cisco compatible modules like SFP/SFP+ might be needed to transfer between optical signals and electrical signals. This article will introduce the 10G IEEE standards and how to select the proper 10G SFP+ module for Cisco switches.
10G fiber optic network is mature now, and there is a wide selection of 10G IEEE standards for different 10G networking applications and environments. Before you buy 10G SFP+ modules for your Cisco switches, you should firstly get to know these 10G standards.
IEEE has defined 10G standards for different transmission distance and transmission media. For instance, there is 10G-SFPP-SR for short distance up to 300 meters over OM3 multimode optical fiber and 10GBASE-LR for long distance up to 10 kilometers over single-mode fiber. There are also standards for 10G transmission over copper cables like 10GBASE-CR and 10GBASE-T. The following table listed the details for the most commonly used 10G standards.
Except IEEE standard and transmission distance, to select the proper 10G SFP+ modules should also considerate several other factors like compatibility and costs.
Although Cisco has a wide selection of switches and 10G SFP+ modules, but not every SFP+ modules can work well on every Cisco switches SFP+ port. Before selecting the SFP+ module for your Cisco switch, you must make sure this SFP+ is compatible with your switch.
The second important factor is the costs for the SFP+ modules. Why? SFP+ module is just a small part of the whole fiber optic network, but the use amount of SFP+ module is very large. Cisco Original brand SFP+ modules are usually expensive. Thus, select cost-effective modules are necessary. Actually, Cisco Original brand SFP+ module is not the only choice. There are also many third party modules that it compatible with Cisco switches. Generally, prices of third party fiber optic transceivers are much lower than the original brand ones.
If you have plenty of money, you can directly order the modules from Cisco. However, if you are going to select the third party modules for a cost-effective solution, then the quality and compatibility would be very important. FS.COM supplies a full range of Cisco compatible modules. All its modules are fully tested in original brand switches to ensure the compatibility and quality. What’s more, FS.COM uses the same naming system as Cisco for its Cisco compatible modules and generic fiber optic modules. A list is also offered in the product page of each fiber optic modules showing the compatible switches and platforms. Customer can use the Cisco product number to search Cisco Compatible and generic modules in FS.COM directly.
