Notes on pluggable optical I/O modules

Why have pluggable I/O interfaces

• Users can pick transceiver & cable for specific application
• Copper vs optical
• Active vs passive cable

SFP

• SFP (small form-factor pluggable)
• Conforms to the SFP multi-source agreement
• Up to 4 Gb/s

SFP+

• Enhancement of SFP
• Up to 10 Gbit/s

XFP

• XFP (10 gigabit small form factor pluggable)
• Conforms to the XFP multi-source agreement (also see INF-8077)
• Up to 10 Gb/s
• Electrical interface is XFI

XFP vs SFP+

• 10GbE can use both XFP & SFP+
• TBD

Overview of different standards

(Originally from a Tyco Presentation )

40 GbE architecture

(Originally from The IEEE Std 802.3ba-2010 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Architecture)

40 GbE implementation examples

(Originally from The IEEE Std 802.3ba-2010 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Architecture)

QSFP

• QSFP (quad small form-factor pluggable)
• For 40 Gb/s Ethernet etc.
• 4 channels in one interface
• Each channel up to 10 Gb/s, total 40 Gb/s
• NO CDR for re-timing
• Electrical interface XLPPI?

CFP

• CFP (C form factor pluggable) [C = latin centum = 100]
• Conforms to the CFP multi-source agreement
• For 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet
• For long-haul Ethernet?
• Electrical interface XLAUI?
• CDR for re-timing

CXP

• CXP
• Active optical cable
• TBD