What is the difference between XFP and SFP+? Can they connect to each other?

In fiber networks, 10G optical modules are widely used in schools, companies and other application environments due to their low cost and power consumption. XFP and SFP+ are two common packaging types of 10G optical modules. The following is ETU-LINK to introduce the differences between XFP and SFP+ optical modules. And can they connect to each other?

1. What is an XFP optical module?

XFP is the package of 10G optical module, which is a standardized package of serial 10G optical transceiver module. The 10-gigabit XFP optical module is a hot-swappable I/O device that plugs into a 10-gigabit port. The electrical interface of the motherboard is a standardized 10G serial interface called XFI. It complies with 10G Fibre Channel, 10G Ethernet, SONET/OC-192 and SDH/STM-64 standards. The XFP optical module can support a transmission distance of up to 100 km.

2. What is an SFP+ optical module?

SFP + light module is a transfer rate of 10 g optical module, encapsulation type for the SFP +, the light module has high density, low power consumption, lower cost of system construction and other significant advantages, and SFP + light module Wan Zhao in Ethernet, SDH optical transmission network, WDM wavelength division multiplexing system engineering, single fiber bi-directional systems engineering has been widely used in such aspects. The transmission distance of the multi-mode SFP+ optical module is 300 m, while the maximum transmission distance of the single-mode optical module is 100 km.

3. What are the differences between XFP and SFP+ optical modules?

(1) The appearance is different, and SFP+ is smaller than XFP;

(2) Compared with SFP+ optical module, XFP optical module has signal modulation function, serial/unstring device, MAC, clock and data recovery (CDR), and electron dispersion compensation (EDC) function. Therefore, when the switch router does not integrate these functions on the mainboard, XFP optical modules are needed to make up for them.

(3) Different protocols: XFP complies with XFP MSA, while SFP+ complies with IEEE 802.3ae, SFF-8431, and SFF-8432.

4. Can XFP and SFP+ optical module be connected to each other?

As long as the transmission rate, transmission distance, and wavelength are consistent, the optical fiber can be connected to each other. For example, a 10G XFP optical module with a wavelength of 1310nm and a transmission distance of 10KM can be connected to a 10G SFP+ optical module with a wavelength of 1310nm and a transmission distance of 10KM. Although the transmission rate of optical modules in the market has increased to 200G, this does not mean that 10G optical modules will be out of the market, which is still the mainstream. The 10G XFP optical module and 10G SFP+ optical module are different in size, structure, and compatibility, so they cannot be substituted for each other.