Network Transceivers

Question 1

Transceiver

Answer 1

• Transmitter and receiver
  
  • Usually in a single component
• Provides a modular interface
  
  • Add the transceiver that matches your network

Question 2

Duplex communication

Answer 2

• Two fibers

* Transmit and receive

Question 3

GBIC

Answer 3

• Gigabit Interface Converter
  
  • An early transceiver standard
• Common on Gigabit and fibre channel networks
  
  • Copper and fiber support

• Relative large, and effectively replaced by SFPs

Question 4

SFP and SFP+

Answer 4

• Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP)
  
  • Commonly used to provide 1 Gbit/s fiber
  • 1 Gbit/s RJ45 SFPs also available
• Enhanced Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP+)
  
  • Exactly the same size as SFPs
  • Supports data rates up to 16 Gbit/s
  • Common with 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Question 5

Bi-Directional (BiDi) transceivers

Answer 5

• Traffic in both directions with a single fiber
  
  • Use two different wavelengths

• Reduce the number of fiber runs by half

Question 6

QSFP

Answer 6

• Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable
• 4-channel SFP = Four 1 Gbit/s = 4 Gbit/s
• QSFP+ is four-channel SFP+ = Four 10 Gbit/sec = 40
Gbit/sec

• Combine four SFPs into a single transceiver
  
  • Cost savings in fiber and equipment
• Bi-Directional (BiDi) QSFP and QSFP+
  
  • Additional efficiency over a single fiber run