The Difference of SFP , SFP+ and XFP

Hi Friends, After long time, I am posting new post on my blog.  Hope it will help you to clear basic understanding towards SFP modules. 

What is the difference of SFP, SFP+  and XFP? 

The 10G module has been developed from 300Pin. XENPAK, X2, XFP and finally achieve with the same size as SFP which can transmit 10G signals called SFP+.

SFP by virtue of its small cost and other advantages to meet the needs of high-density equipment, SFP+ has been replaced the XFP 10G modules and became the mainstream.

Let’s have look in bit more details –

XFP

• The XFP ( 10G Gigabit Small Form factor Pluggable) is a standard for transceiver for high speed network links that use optical fiber.
• It was defined by an industry group in year 2002, along with its interface to other electrical components which is called XFI.
• A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver, which is combined and share a common circuit.

XFP details –

• XFP modules are hot-swappable and protocol independent.
• XFP operates at optical wavelengths of 850nm, 1310nm or 1550 nm.
• Principal applications include 10 Gbit /s Fibre Channel, Synchronous optical networking (SONET) at OC-192 rates, Synchronous optical networking STM-64, 10 Gbit /s Optical Transport Network (OTN) OTU-2, and parallel optics links
• They can operate over a single wavelength or use dense wavelength-division multiplexing techniques
• They include digital diagnostics that provide management that were added to the SFF-8472 standard
• XFP modules use an LC fiber connector type to achieve high density.

SFP-

The small form-factor pluggable (SFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable transceiver used for both telecommunication and data communications applications. It interfaces a network device mother board (for a switch, router, media converter or similar device) to a fiber optic cable. It is a popular industry format jointly developed and supported by many network component vendors.

SFP Detail

• SFP transceivers are expected to perform at data speeds of up to five gigabits per second (5 Gbps), and possibly higher.
• Because SFP modules can be easily interchanged, electro-optical or fiber optic networks can be upgraded and maintained more conveniently than has been the case with traditional soldered-in modules
• Rather than replacing an entire circuit board containing several soldered-in modules, a single module can be removed and replaced for repair or upgrading. This can result in a substantial cost savings, both in maintenance and in upgrading efforts as compared to old in built modules.
• SFP transceivers are designed to support SONET, Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and other communications standards.
• Due to its smaller size, SFP obsoletes the formerly ubiquitous gigabit interface converter (GBIC); the SFP is sometimes referred to as a Mini-GBIC although no device with this name has ever been defined in the MSAs.

The advantages of SFP+ modules:

• SFP+ has a more compact form factor package than X2 and XFP
• It can connect with the same type of XFP, X2 and XENPAK directly.
• The cost of SFP+ is lower than XFP, X2 and XENPAK.

The differences between SFP and SFP+：

They have the same size and appearance, but in different standard which SFP is based on IEEE802.3 and SFF-8472.

The connection between XFP and SFP+：

• Both of them are 10G fiber optical modules and can connect with other type of 10G modules.
• The size of SFP+ is smaller than XFP, thus it moves some functions to motherboard, including signal modulation function, MAC, CDR and EDC.
• XFP is based on the standard of XFP MSA
• SFP+ is compliance with the protocol of IEEE802.3ae, SFF-8431, SFF-8432.
• SFP+ is the mainstream design.

      Hope above information will help you.

      Thanks for reading !!!