Choosing the Right Cable for 10G SFP+ Optical Transceivers

What sort of fiber optic cables should you choose for 10G SFP+ transceivers? If you are a professional who works with fiber optics, you would find this to be a simple question to answer. But there are a lot of people, such as those who are new to networking, who may not understand the compatibility that exists between the various optical transceiver modules and fiber optic cables. In this article we clear the confusion that a lot of people have about selecting the right transmission media (whether it is OS2/OM4/ OM3/Cat6/Cat6a) for 10G SFP+ optical transceiver modules.

Let’s quickly understand what SFP+ optical transceiver modules are and how they relate to 10G fiber optic cables and copper cables.

10GBASE SFP+ optical transceivers

As per IEEE standards, SFP+ optical transceivers are of several different types such as 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-LRM SFP+, 10GBASE-ER SFP+, 10GBASE-SR SFP+, 10GBASE-ZR SFP+ and 10GBASE-T SFP+. All of these types of SFP+ optical transceivers have a unique specification and standards, but we won’t go into too much detail here.

BiDi SFP+ Modules

The 10G SFP+ modules are just as important as the 10GBASE-CWDM SFP+, 10GBASE SFP+, SFP+ BiDi and 10GBASE-DWDM SFP+ optical transceiver modules listed above. These optical transceivers are based on two different wavelengths. They help you achieve a transmission of 10G through a single fiber cable. You can expect the BiDi optical module to have a wavelength of 1310nm/1550nm, 1510nm/1590nm or 1310nm/1490nm.

CWDM/DWDM SFP+ Modules

Also important are the CWDM/DWDM SFP+ Modules, which are expanded as Coarse Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (CWDM) or Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (DWDM) SFP+ modules. These modules are cheap and easy to use and very flexible. They are ideal for implementing a 10 Gigabit Ethernet in data centers, college campuses and city-wide access networks. These transceiver types easily support as many as 8 channels and transmit data of 10GbE through single-mode fibers over an 80 km distance.

10G Fiber & Copper Patch Cables

Fiber optic cables are of 2 types. The most commonly used fiber optic cables are of a single – mode type. Increasingly multimode fiber optic cables are also being used. Each type is of a different core size and is made from different types of fiber optic transmission equipment. So they have their uses in various types of applications. The most common single-mode fiber patch cables are of the standards OS1 and OS2. They are generally used for long-distance data transmission and are based on the laser diode technology.

OS2 OM4 Cat6a for 10G SFP+ module

OM1/OM2/OM3/OM4 are the different standards by which Multimode fiber cables are defined by. These cables consist of a big core at the center that is capable of carrying light. They are generally preferred for short-distance data transmission and consist of LED based equipments. OM1 cables have a core size of 62.5um. They carry out data transmission over 300m at a speed of 1GB. OM2 cables have a core size of 50um. They carry out data transmission over 600m at a speed of 10 GB. OM3 and OM4 optic fibers carry out transmission over 300m and 550m respectively and are used in a 10GB network.

Copper Ethernet Network cables

Copper Ethernet Network cables are still widely used today although they are not as efficient as fiber optic cables. The most common types of Copper Ethernet Network cables are Cat6/Cat6a cables which are usually a part of 10G networks. These cables are capable of carrying data at a speed of 10 GBPS. Also used are Cat5e and Cat5. Cat5e cables carry data at the speed of 1 Gigabits per second, and Cat5 cables have a data transmission speed of just 10/100 Mbps.