Views: 399 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-06-30 Origin: Site
When you use your mobile phone to smoothly watch videos, access cloud files in the company, or play games with "zero delay", there is a group of "small parts" working silently behind the scenes - SFP modules. They are only the size of a thumb, but they are the "invisible bridge" of modern network communication. Today, let's unveil its mystery!
SFP (Small Form-factor Pluggable), called small pluggable optical module in Chinese, is a hot-swappable optical fiber or copper cable transceiver. Its core function is very simple: convert electrical signals into optical signals (or reverse conversion), so that data can be transmitted at high speed through optical fiber or network cable.
Small and flexible: smaller than a lighter, can be densely deployed.
Plug and play: supports hot swapping, no need to power off when replacing.
Multi-rate support: from 1G to 100G (different versions such as SFP, SFP+, QSFP).
The 10G/25G high-speed connection between servers and switches relies entirely on SFP+ modules.
High-density deployment saves space and energy consumption.
Connect switches on different floors through optical fiber to avoid the distance limitation of copper cables (optical fiber can reach 80km!).
Anti-electromagnetic interference, suitable for sensitive environments such as factories and hospitals.
Mobile base stations transmit data back to the core network through SFP modules.
Long-distance transmission (such as metropolitan area network) relies on single-mode optical fiber SFP.
Different scenarios require different SFP modules, which are mainly divided into the following categories:
SFP 1G/1.25G Old equipment, surveillance cameras Marked "SFP" or "1G"
SFP+ 10G/25G Data center, high-performance network Marked "SFP+" or "10G"
QSFP+ 40G/100G Supercomputing center, cloud service provider Larger, four-channel design
Little knowledge: SFP+ and SFP have the same appearance, but 10G SFP+ modules cannot be inserted into 1G SFP ports (on the contrary, they are partially compatible).
Home/small company: 1G SFP is enough.
Data center: choose 10G/25G SFP+.
Short distance (≤550 meters): multimode fiber (MMF) + SX module.
Long distance (≥10 km): single-mode fiber (SMF) + LR/LH module.
Give priority to equipment manufacturer certified modules (such as Cisco, Huawei) to avoid third-party modules being "port locked".
No! Even with the rise of QSFP (100G+), SFP still dominates medium and low-speed scenarios, especially cost-sensitive projects.
Maybe, but the device needs to support rate adaptation (forced speed reduction to 1G). However, stability may be affected, and mixed use is not recommended.
Fiber: long distance, anti-interference, but high cost.
Electrical port: short distance (≤100 meters), cheap and free of fiber maintenance.
YXFiber's transceivers are compatible with Cisco and Huawei devices, as well as most devices on the market. Welcome to consult and customize.
All modules shipped by YXFiber usually undergo the following tests: normal temperature/high temperature test, power test, eye diagram test, sensitivity test, DDM monitoring and Ping packet test.
From home network to 5G base station, SFP modules are like Lego blocks, flexibly building the blueprint of modern communications. Next time you sigh at the fast speed of the Internet, don't forget to thank these "invisible heroes"!