Owing to the rapid progress made in optical technologies, the high-speed and high-performance data transmission in telecommunication applications has been made possible with the deployment of fiber optical products. Transceivers, as one of the key components required for such network performance, have been constantly designed, and finally been reinvented as hot-pluggable to meet the demands of higher density and flexibility.

A transceiver, as the name refers, is a combination of a transmitter and a receiver in a single package, while they function independently for bidirectional communication. A transceiver basically converts incoming optical signal to electrical and outgoing electrical signal to optical. There is an ocean of hot-pluggable transceivers out there in telecommunication market, causing the confusion about how to select the correct transceivers for your networking transmission. In this blog, I will illustrate different aspects of transceivers that need to be known before purchasing a transceiver.

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, SFP+, XFP, CFP, CFP2, CFP4, QSFP and so on.

Transmission media can be single-mode fiber (SMF), multi-mode fiber(MMF) and also copper. The single-mode fiber based standard transceivers can have a transmission distance of 5km to 120km, thanks to single-mode fiber’s lower attenuation. While the multi-mode transceivers are defined from 150m to 5km. For instance, 1000BASE-LX is a single-mode transceiver standard. Fiberstore compatible Cisco GLC-LH-SMD (Left in the image below)) is such a kind with the distance up to 10km over SMF. Besides, the GLC-LH-SMD price listed on Fiberstore is really cost-effective and it is worth your try. And 10GBASE-LRM SFP is a kind of multi-mode transceiver. Fiberstore compatible Cisco SFP-10G-LRM (Right in the image below) reaches the maximum link length of 220m over MMF. The difference in transmission distance also arises from different transmitter power, receiver sensitivity and the wavelength in operation.

The transceivers functioning in wide 1310nm and 1550nm are called "grey”, while those functioning in one of the grids falling in CWDM or DWDM grid are called "colored”. The transceivers can also be simplex or bi-di which transmits and receives the data in a single fiber but different wavelengths. The duplex, on the other hand, works with dual fiber.

There are four basic types of internal construction, but you have to choose the one that suits the best for your applications. One of the most popular types is the distribution or tight pack. The second type of construction is the breakout or fanout design. This design gives each buffered fiber its own individual jacket and is a more durable design. The zip cord or assembly is another type of internal construction that is offered to the designers. This is one of the preferred internal construction options. In this construction, one or two buffered fibers in individual jackets should be considered.

Selecting the best type of transceiver for the switch and network is not always easy, but knowing above discussed parameters beforehand helps you narrow it down to a couple of transceivers. Fiberstore, a leading optical product manufacturer, supplies a series of SFP transceivers, available in single-mode, multi-mode, and copper standard, such as GLC-LH-SM, Cisco GLC-SX-MM, SFP-GE-T, etc. (GLC-LH-SMD, Cisco SFP-10G-LRM mentioned above also included). You can visit Fiberstore for more information SFP transceivers.

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