Difference between SFP and SFP+ SFP and SFP+ transceivers, the differences between the two and what advantages do SFP+ has to offer for your network Infrastructure.
SFP
SFP in short means Small Form-factor Pluggable. It is a compact and hot-pluggable transceiver that can be used in the ports of telecommunication and data communication devices. It is an industry standard which is manufactured by many network component vendors.
SFP modules are designed to support SONET, Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and other communication standards.
SFP modules allow greater port density (number of transceivers per cm along the edge of a mother board) SFP such as optical output power, optical input power, temperature, laser bias current, supply voltage etc. in real time.
SFP+
SFP+ stands for Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus – SFP+ transceivers are an enhanced version of the SFP that can support Data rates of up to 16Gbps. The SFP+ specification was first published on May 9th 2006 and the first version 4.2 was published on July 6th 2009. SFP+ modules have the same dimensions as SFP. The big difference between the SFP and SFP+ modules is the encoding method.
SFP+ modules can also be used in older equipment with XENPAK or X2 ports through the use of an active electronic adapter.
SFP+ modules Two types Linear SFP+ modules Limiting SFP+ modules Linear SFP+ modules are most appropriate for 10GBase-LRM Limiting modules are preferred. These contain a signal amplifier to re-shape the degraded (received) signal whereas linear does not.