Correctly installing and removing SFP modules is vital to ensuring the modules themselves and devices they are installed into, remain free from damage. SFP modules and their variants such as SFP+, QSFP+ etc are designed to be “hot-swappable” or “hot-pluggable”, meaning the switch, router, server or other device they are [Read More]

Tutorial: Installing & Removing SFPs

$995 for a 10G SR SFP+ module. $500 for the most basic multimode Gigabit SFP module. These are the genuine list prices from one of the biggest network equipment vendors going. They are big numbers, especially when you consider just how many of these units a network needs. Just a basic [Read More]

Discussion: Is vendor optic pricing justified?

No sooner than one standard is ratified another is proposed. In fact, as is often the case, standards are proposed one or two iterations before the current ratification. Gigabit, 10G, 40G, 100G and even some odd ones in between such as 802.3by (25Gbps) and 802.3cd (50Gbps). All there or thereabouts [Read More]

Discussion: Gbps – Is speed that important?

The MSA, or “multi-source agreement” is in effect a collection of gentleman’s handshakes between various equipment vendors and manufacturers in regards to interface modules, or “form factors” as they are technically known. They are not officially recognised standards or endorsed by organisations such as IEEE, ITU, ANSI etc. What they [Read More]

Theory: MSA – What is it, why it doesn’t work?