100G CFP Transceiver – Ultra High Speed Transmission Solution

During the past few years, 40G technology has dominated telecommunications. But now, with the introduction of the 100G technology, everyone is talking about 100 Gbps as the next generation. Whether willing or not, IT managers and data center designers have to consider migrate their network to 100 Gbps in the near future. And CFP is designed to fulfil the deployment of 100G network for companies and enterprises.

Brief Introduction to 100G CFP Optics
CFP transceiver was designed after SFP transceiver interface, but it supports much larger internet speed, which is realized by using 10×10Gbit/s in each direction (RX, TX). Here the C stands for 100 in Roman numerals (centum). We can infer from the name that CFP is introduced to serve as optical transceiver for 100G interfaces. Since the electrical connection of the CFP uses 10×10Gbit/s lanes in every direction, the optical connection can support both 10×10Gbit/s and 4×25Gbit/s variants of 100Gbit/s interconnects (typically known as 100GBASE-LR10 and 100GBASE-LR4 in 10km SMF reach, and 100GBASE-ER10 and 100GBASE-ER4 in 40km SMF reach, and 100GBASE-SR10 in 100 meter MMF reach respectively.)

Different Types of 100G CFP
There are several CFP types to be introduced—CFP, CFP2 and CFP4. CFP2 and CFP4 are the upgraded generation of CFP. Among them, the size of CFP is the largest. CFP2 is half the size of CFP while CFP4 is the half size of CFP2. And the features of the three different types have been summarized in the following texts. One thing that needs to be noted is that although they are not interchangeable, but could be interoperable at the optical interface with appropriate connectors.

Features and Benefits of CFP:

• Supports 40G and 100G Ethernet CFP optical transceivers
• Capable of side by side mounting as well as “belly to belly” mounting
• Provides full EMI shielding
• Uses a universal rail for both left and right positions
• Allows integration of host PCB to host bezel (face plate) by either of two methods for manufacturing flexibility.

Features and Benefits of CFP2 and CFP4:

• Up to 28 Gbps per lane – 2.8 times faster than current CFP products
• High density, 0.6mm contact pitch
• Provides one of the industry’s leading Signal Integrity (SI) performance for 28 Gbps per lane
• Features a ruggedized cage construction for a more robust solution to help mitigate cage warping
• Flexible design options to address your needs including ganged cages, heat sinks, single-sided and belly-to-belly mounting styles, light-pipes, and the capability to support mid- to long-reach applications

FS 100G CFP Solution
As one of the leading providers in optical communication , FS provides customers with transceivers that are manufactured at the highest quality of standards in the industry. All the CFP transceivers mentioned above, including both CFP2 and CFP4, are available in our website. And every transceiver is individually tested on corresponding equipment such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Dell, Brocade and other brands, and passed the monitoring of our intelligent quality control system. Also, all the products in FS are fully warranted against defects in material and workmanship with a lifetime guarantee.

Conclusion
2017 has witnessed the prosperity of the telecommunication market. Many research company predicts that the market of 2018 for telecommunication field will continue to thrive. With such a bright future, fiber optics market attracts a wide attention and many vendors want a piece of the pie. At present, 40G is ubiquitous in the data center and 100G is accelerating. As for the optical transceiver, it has been developed in the past decades to adapt to the high-speed requirement from 1G to 40G even to 100G. Believe it or not, 100G is on the way. Don’t wait to get fully prepared for the upcoming 100G era with CFP transceivers.

Source : 100G CFP Transceiver – Ultra High Speed Transmission Solution

MSA Is More Important Than You Think

When talking about fiber optic transceivers, we may encounter a term — MSA (Multi-Source Agreement). But what is MSA? It seems likes an universal organization that defines all the fiber optic transceivers and many other telecom products. However, this understanding of MSA only stays at the surface. In this passage, a clearer introduction to MSAs and why they are so important to fiber optic transceiver vendors will be presented. Just read the following text and you will gain somethings from it.

What Does MSA Mean?
MSA is short for Multi-Source Agreement. MSAs are not official standards organizations. Rather, they are agreements between multiple manufacturers in order to make products which are compatible across vendors, acting as de facto standards, establishing a competitive market for interoperable products.

MSAs strictly define the operating characteristics of these optical transceivers so that system vendors may implement ports in their devices that allow MSA compliant transceivers produced by name brand, as well as third party vendors, to function properly. That is, transceivers may be purchased from any of the multiple sources in the open market, like Fiberstore. This gives end users more choice when selecting module vendors, which serve to drive down cost through economies of scale.

Approved Fiber Optica Transceiver Multi-source Agreements
MSA is a popular industry format jointly developed and supported by many network component vendors, most common optical transceivers are specified by it at present. Currently, the approved MSAs cover the transceivers are listed in the following figure.

Importance of MSA
MSAs, as we have talked above, defined the characteristics of any type of fiber optic transceiver system. To customers, MSAs are primarily important because they can give them piece of mind that transceiver devices will have a basic level of operability. With MSAs, consumers have more freedom in the choices for suppliers from which they purchase products, because the basic functionality and operability of all transceiver devices will be the same within these devices. Of course, some products may be superior than other. This will allow people to compete and gain a share of the market without creating a design that’s completely different from all other devices. To the industry, before MSAs launched, a couple of companies get together, work behind closed doors, and now these standards force suppliers to be efficient and creative to find ways to drive costs down and offer customers more for their money. However, some system vendors have attempted to subvert the standardizing value of the MSAs and tried to find loopholes around the value around the MSAs.

The most common scheme is to write a unique code into some of the undefined memory in the EEPROM of each fiber optic transceivers. When the transceiver is inserted into the host switch, its EEPROM is read, and, if the code is “incorrect” the module is rejected as “incompatible”. Though the unique code seems like a barrier for the 3rd party transceiver suppliers, many module vendors have determined how to generate and program certain parts with proper codes. Because of this, they are not distinguishable from the brand name parts of the host systems. System vendors will use the tactics to protect consumers from grossly inflated prices. They also introduce standards to support and encourage creation and standards.

Summary
MSAs have built a new way of innovation instead of market monopoly for the optical industry, and bring both opportunity and challenge to users and this industry. Fiberstore provides a full range of fiber optic transceivers including SFP, SFP+, X2, XENPAK, XFP, GBIC, QSFP/QSFP+, CFP. Most of the basic transceivers are with ready stock. Currently, J8177B (compatible HP 1000BASE-T SFP) and JD099B (compatible HP 1000BASE 1490nmTX/1310nmRX BIDI SFP) are available and have more discount. 

Reference:
http://www.fs.com/blog/msas-are-more-important-than-you-think.html
http://www.commscope.com/ThinkingAhead/Standards/Enterprise/Multi-source-agreements/