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Compatibility Guarantee for FS Transceivers

Updated on Oct 7, 2021 by
8.8k

When buying the third-party transceiver modules, people always concern about transceiver compatibility most. FS, as a professional vendor of optical communication products, sets strict testing procedures and standards to ensure all FS transceivers’ compatibility and performance. FS brand compatible modules, FS standard transceivers, and FS box are designed to meet different compatibility requirements.

Transceiver Compatibility, Why It Matters?

Some industry manufacturers like Cisco and HP encrypt their devices, so the devices have high requirements of compatibility for transceivers. This means a Cisco transceiver can not be used with an HP device, and vice versa. And these original modules are often priced higher than the third-party modules. The third-party modules now have been widely adopted in data centers, enterprise or campus networks, etc. Because they can be compatible with original brand devices and provide equal performance as original optical transceivers, but cost less. Due to original brand devices' high compatibility requirements, ensuring the third-party transceiver compatibility with the devices is very essential both for third-party module vendors and users.

FS Transceivers Compatibility Solution

FS uses brand compatible transceivers and standard transceivers to solve compatibility issues to meet different customers’ demands.

Brand Compatible Transceiver Modules

FS transceivers are compatible with 200 mainstream vendors like Cisco, Juniper, IBM, Arista and so on. At FS, we set a series of testing procedures including OEM specification diagnosis, functionality test, and interoperability check to ensure the transceiver compatibility. We also set up a compatibility assurance center to test the compatible transceivers in a real-world situation. (See more about FS compatibility test)

Compatibility test.jpg

FS Standard Transceiver Modules

FS standard compatible modules can run well on the devices that have no strict compatibility requirements. For example, network switches from F5 support the standard transceivers. These brands don’t implement the vendor lock-in policy or encrypt their devices.

FS Box Offers A One-Size-Fits-All Transceiver Module Solution

FS box is designed to solve real-time compatibility needs and upgrade the transceiver firmware in the data center. This product offers three interfaces for SFP/SFP+, XFP, and QSFP+/QSFP28 modules as well as DAC/AOC cables. Users are accessible to module configurations of more than 200 brands like Cisco, Juniper, Arista and other customized reprogramming services. The coding can be done on the instant online platform fsbox.com with an intuitive web-based interface. With FS box, customers can enjoy the functions like batch coding, diagnosing coding and so on.

FAQs

Is there any difference between third-party and original modules?

There is no big difference between OEM and third-party transceivers. Because all transceiver modules are produced based on the MSA (multi-source agreement). The only difference is that the vendor ID in the EEPROM is reset to the system that the vendor owns. This means the connected modules must have the corresponding EEPROM codes that can work with the OEM vendors’ devices. FS uses the same software codes as the original vendors to ensure the FS transceivers are compatible with original brand devices.

Transceiver Compatibility Issues Troubleshoot

When facing any transceiver compatibility with a brand device, you may check:


  • Check whether the transceiver is in the right device port. Some transceivers share the same size, such as SFP and SFP+ modules. The SFP module can fit seamlessly into an SFP+ port, and vice versa. However, the connection may suffer from a reduced transmission rate or even can not work. The transmission speed will be locked at 1Gbps when one SFP module is plugged into an SFP+ port. This connection may deliver no results, because some 10G switch ports can not deal with 1Gbps automatically, but require manual setup to deliver 1Gbps.

  • Ensure the transceivers’ wavelengths match at each end. Data or signal is usually delivered from one end to another. For example, one 40G transceiver with 850nm wavelength converts electrical signals to optical. The laser inside the QSFP+ module transmits light to the other side via fiber cables. To guarantee another 40G optical transceiver on the other end is able to deal with this, it should be an 850nm one. One 850nm transceiver can not work with one 1310nm transceiver. Note that, the working mode of optical modules on each end also should be matched. Full-duplex transceiver should be paired with another full-duplex transceiver. If a full-duplex module works with a half-duplex one, the transmission is not available.

  • Use the correct fiber cables. Transceiver modules on each end should use the same fiber cable types at each end. For example, if there are two Cisco compatible 40G QSFP+ LR4 modules on each side for a long-distance link (about 5km), single-mode fibers are mostly used. Multi-mode fibers are usually deployed with short-distance modules like QSFP+ SR4 to complete a short link (about 100m - 500m). Therefore, ensure the optical transceivers on each end use the correct fiber type.

How to access FS switches’ transceiver compatibility matrix?

First, go to the network switch product page. The following figure shows the access for FS transceivers compatibility matrix of S3900-48T4S Gigabit switch. Click the Download section. The file S3900 Series Switches Transceiver Modules Guide is here.

S3900 Switch Transcevier Module Guide.jpg

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