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10G Optical Transceiver XFP vs SFP+: What Are the Differences?
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
XFP
XFP is the first of the small form factor 10GbE optics, defined as the industry standard in 2002. It generally operates at wavelengths (colors) of 850 nm, 1310 nm or 1550 nm. Principal applications include 10G Ethernet, 10G Fibre Channel, SONET OC-192, SDH STM-64 and OTN G.709, and parallel optics links.
XFP transceivers are available with numerous types, allowing users to select suitable one to meet their needs.
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SR – 850 nm, for a maximum of 300 m
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LR – 1310 nm, for distances up to 10 km
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ER – 1550 nm, for distances up to 40 km
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ZR – 1550 nm, for distances up to 80 km
SFP+
SFP+ is a 10GbE optics using the same physical form factor as a gigabit SFP. SFP+ supports 8 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, 10-Gigabit Ethernet and Optical Transport Network standard OTU2. The applications have expanded to include SONET OC-192, SDH STM-64, OTN G.709, CPRI wireless, 16G Fibre Channel, and the emerging 32G Fibre Channel application.
SFP+ specifications are based on SFF-8431. In terms of SFP vs SFP+ compatibility, SFP+ ports often accept SFP optics but at a reduced speed of 1Gbps. However, this does not work vice versa, which is to say you cannot plug SFP+ transceiver in to a SFP port, because SFP+ transceiver does not support speeds less than 1Gbps.
XFP vs SFP+ specifications
|
|
XFP |
SFP+ |
|
Abbreviation for |
10 Gigabit Small Form FactorPluggable |
Small Form-factor Pluggable plus |
|
Data rate |
10G |
6G/8.5G/10G |
|
Standard |
IEE802.3ae; XFP MSA |
IEE802.3ae; SFF-8431; SFF-8432 |
|
Size |
Bigger than SFP+ |
Small |
|
Port Density |
Lower |
Greater |
|
Functions |
Signal modulation function, serial/deserializer, the MAC, clock and data recovery (CDR) and electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) function remain within the module. |
SFP+ transfer signal modulation function, serial/deserializer, the MAC, clock and data recovery (CDR) and electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) function from the module to the Lord on the card |
|
Cost |
Higher |
Lower |
|
Distance supported |
|
|
|
Wavelength |
|
|
|
Connector |
|
|
|
Usage |
Widely installed in SDH/STM networks |
Often used in Ethernet, Fiber Channel Protocols |
Conclusions
XFP technology is relatively older but more expensive, that's also the reason 10G SFP+ modules have been gaining more market share. However, XFP transceiver module still cannot be replaced by SFP+ modules in some 10G network applications. That is due to SFP+ moves some functions to motherboard, including signal modulation function, MAC, CDR and EDC, which makes SFP+ smaller than XFP in size.
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