Belden's SFP Transceiver Line

Belden, through their Hirshmann brand, offer a flexible line of fiber optic and copper SFP transceivers for ethernet related products. The wide variety of options that are available, combined their the small body sizes – half of traditional gigabit interface converters (GBIC's) – gives Belden a strong offering in the area of fiber optic and copper SFP transceivers.

What Exactly Is A Transceiver?

As many major manufacturers were involved in the creation of a multi-source agreement, SFP modules have become standardized and much more widespread in recent years. A small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver is both a transmitter and receiver of data in a single unit, hence the transceiver name. One of the major benefits to SFP transceivers is that they are hot-pluggable, meaning you can install it without needing to power down the system. These are used in printed circuit boards and are common in both telecommunications or datacommunications installations.

Copper vs Fiber Transceivers

While both copper and fiber varieties of transceivers are available, most larger installations are moving towards fiber. Copper modules only support gigabit ethernet – and with transitions to 10 and 40 gigabit networks, it's easy to see why copper has been fast becoming a waning force in all areas of data centers, including transceivers.

Fiber transceivers on the other hand, are available for much longer distances and data transmissions rates. Fiber SFP modules are classified based upon their working wavelengths and distances, and include:

• Multi-mode fiber using 850nm wavelength with 550m runs @ 1.25Gbps or 150m runs @ 4.25Gbps. These multi-mode fiber SFP's are commonly abbreviated as 'SX' and are used for short length applications.

• Single-mode fiber modules have several variants available which allow some impressive run lengths. 'LX' uses 1310nm wavelengths for up to 10km runs, 'ZX' uses 1550nm wavelengths for up to 80km runs, and 'EX' supports 1550nm wavelengths for up to an amazing 120km!

Belden's Line-up

In addition to offering all of the before mentioned models, Belden's line of SFP transceivers include features like Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and Bi-Directional Gigabit Ethernet. Take a look at some of the models spec sheets below for more information:

For more information concerning Belden's line of fiber optic transceivers, to learn about other Belden solutions for your next installation, or for any other questions, please contact your local Accu-Tech representative today.