The explosive growth of implementing 10G-25G upgrading path drives the birth of 10/25G dual rate fiber optics to make a simpler method to cater to the migration trend in today’s Ethernet network.

Challenges in Upgrading from 10G to 25G

25Gbps has been considered as a cost-effective and less disruptive routine to upgrade 10Gbps to higher rate 100Gbps by many forward thinking enterprises and data centers. In recent years, we’ve seen the explosive growth of the 25Gbps market and the technology value of 25G network deployment. However, moving from 10G to 25G can bring extra challenges.

As the foundation of the modern fiber network, optical transceivers make up a large part in network deployment. The commonly used transceiver modules deployed generally support single rate such as 10G SFP+ transceivers and 25G SFP28 transceivers. Since both ends of 10G-25G link require simultaneous upgradation, upgrading from 10G to 25G network requires having to replace the entire transceiver and cable infrastructure, which can result in large cost in capex, time and energy.

To address the challenges faced in the 10G-25G migration path, 10/25G dual rate transceivers are introduced.

10/25G Dual Rate Transceiver - Solution to 10G-25G Upgrading Path

Dual rate transceivers, some also called multi rate transceivers, are a type of optical transceiver supporting dual opposite with commonly used single rate transceivers. As the name suggests, 10/25G dual rate transceivers support dual rate - 10Gbps and 25Gbps. From their appearance, the dual rate transceiver looks the same as 25G single rate transceiver - the form factor of them are all SFP28. However, the dual rate transceivers are compatible with either 10G SFP+ ports or 25G SFP28 ports, which makes it more flexible than the single rate transceivers. Furthermore, with breakout cable used, they are capable of interoperating with 40G/100G networks.

The following chart will compare 10/25G dual rate optical transceiver vs 10G/25G single rate transceiver, taking FS 10/25GBASE-SR transceiver as an example.

Apart from dual rate transceivers in SFP28 transceivers, there are also other dual rate transceivers with different form factor and data rates such as dual rate SFP+ transceivers supporting 100M/1000Mbps data rates.

Advantages of 10/25G Dual Rate Transceiver

10/25G dual rate optical transceivers includes advantages as follows:

Backforward Compatibility

As mentioned above, 10/25G dual rate transceivers are compatible with either 10G SFP+ ports or 25G SFP28 ports. It can be configured to 10G or 25G as you want as long as the switch ports support.

Future Proof Network

For those deploying 10G network without urgent needs to upgrade to 25G, using dual rate SFP28 transceivers future proofs network, making it easier to upgrade network whenever it is required without adding new infrastructures.

Investment Protection

The role of a 10/25G dual rate transceiver equals a combination of 10G SFP+ transceiver and 25G SFP28 transceiver. It requires no changing of cables and transceivers when upgrading from 10G to 25G, which minimizes costs in upgrading. Moreover, for network operators not willing to upgrade the 10G network infrastructure at once, dual rate transceivers are a cost-effective solution.

Simplify Network Upgrading

With 10/25G dual rate transceiver implemented, it gets rid of the complex changing of transceiver modules and the cabling used, which saves a great amount of time and effort for network operators, especially in high density data centers where changing a wide range of deployment can be a hassle.

10/25G Dual Rate Transceiver Application

10/25G dual rate transceivers can be used to replace single rate 10G or 25G transceivers in data centers or enterprises, connecting distribution switches to access switches, ToR, MoR, EoR switches to servers or leaf switches based on the transmission distance they allow.

As the figure shows, when the switches are upgraded from 10G to 25G switches, the dual rate transceivers and cables need no change or addition, which helps to seamlessly upgrade from 10G network to 25G network. No matter in data centers or enterprises, when network operators are deploying 10G networks but require future migration from 10G to 25G, the 10/25G dual rate transceiver can help the deployment with its 10G/25G dual rate capability.

FS.com supports 10G/25G dual rate transceiver portfolio and network switches that support dual rate transceivers such as S5860-20SQ switch with 10G/25G SFP28 dual rate ports for multiple uses in 10G or 25G Ethernet networks.