Nowadays, 10G transceivers series mainly includes 10G XENPAK, 10G X2, 10G XFP and 10G SFP . XENPAK was the very first MSA for 10GE coupled with been the biggest form factor. X2 was later competing standards with smaller form factors. XFP came after X2 and it is also smaller. SFP offer a smaller form factor and also the ability to offer 1G/10G combo ports on hardware. This is a guide to these module types and optical standards currently available.

10G XENPAK

XENPAK is 10G fiber optic transceiver. It supports all optical ports as defined in IEEE 802.3ae, supporting speed 10.3 Gb/s,9.95 Gb/s or 3.125 Gb/s. XENPAK modules designed XAUI interface and knowledge shaping (CDR) function, which comply with the XENPAK MSA protocol and satisfy the application of 802.3ae Ethernet protocol 10GB. The 10G XENPAK optical modules include XENPAK 10GBASE-SR 300 meters (multimode OM3 fiber), XENPAK 10GBASE-LRM multimode fiber 220 meters, XENPAK 10GBASE-LR single-mode fiber 10-20km, XENPAK 10GBASE-ER single-mode fiber 40 km, XENPAK 10GBASE-ZR single-mode fiber 80km.

10G X2

X2 defines a smaller form-factor 10 Gb/s pluggable fiber optic transceiver optimized for 802.3ae Ethernet,ANSI/ITUT OC192/STM- 64 SONET/SDH interfaces,ITUT G.709,OIF OC192 VSR,INCITS/ANSI 10GFC (10 Gigabit Fibre Channel) and other 10 Gigabit applications.X2 is initially centered on optical links to 10 kilometers and is ideally suited for Ethernet,Fibre Channel and telecom switches and standard PCI (peripheral component interconnect) based server and storage connections. X2 is physically smaller than XENPAK but maintains the mature electrical I/O specification based on the XENPAK MSA and continues to provide robust thermal performance and electromagnetic shielding. The 10GB X2 fiber optic transceivers series includeX2-10GB-SR, X2-10GB-LR, X2-10GB-ER and X2-10GB-ZR, they are designed based on the X2 MSA and IEEE802.3ae. They’re created for the integrated systems solution provide, fiber optics distributor along with other IT distributors.

10G XFP

XFP is really a standard for transceivers for high-speed computer network and telecommunication links which use optical fiber. They sometimes operate at near-infrared wavelengths (colors) of 850 nm, 1310 nm or 1550 nm. Principal applications include 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gbit/s Fibre Channel, synchronous optical networking (SONET) at OC-192 rates, synchronous optical networking STM-64, 10 Gbit/s Optical Transport Network (OTN) OTU-2, and parallel optics links. They can operate over a single wavelength or use dense wavelength-division multiplexing techniques. They include digital diagnostics that provide management which were added to the SFF-8472 standard. XFP modules make use of an LC fiber connector type to achieve high density. The 10G XFP fiber optic transceivers series include XFP-10G-MM-SR, XFP-10GLR-OC192SR, XFP-10GER-OC192IR and XFP-10GZR-OC192LR.

10G SFP+

10G SFP+ transceivers are multi-purpose optical modules for 10Gbit/s data transmission applications at 850nm, 1310nm and 1550nm. The transceivers are ideally suited for datacom and storage space network (SAN/NAS) applications based on the IEEE 802.3ae and Fibre Channel standards, Fiber Channel 10G, 8.5G, 4.25G, 2.125G, 1.0625G, 10G BASE-SW/SR/LR/ER, 1000Base-SX Ethernet. The 10G SFP fiber optic transceivers series include SFP-10G-SR, SFP-10G-LRM, SFP-10G-LR, SFP-10G-ER, SFP-10G-ZR, SFP-10G-LW, SFP-10G-LH, SFP-10G-LX and SFP-10G-ZW.