The C form-factor pluggable (CFP) is a multi-source agreement to produce a common form-factor for the transmission of high-speed digital signals. The c stands for the Latin letter C used to express the number 100 (centum), as the standard was primarily developed for 100 Gigabit Ethernet systems.
CFP standardization
The CFP transceiver is specified by a multi-source agreement (MSA) between competing manufacturers. The CFP was designed after the SFP interface, but is significantly larger to support 100 Gbit/s. While the electrical connection of a CFP uses 10 x 10 Gbit/s lanes in each direction (RX, TX)[1] the optical connection can support both 10 x 10 Gbit/s and 4 x 25 Gbit/s variants of 100 Gbit/s interconnects (typically referred to as 100GBASE-LR10 and 100GBASE-LR4 in 10 km reach, and 100GBASE-ER10 and 100GBASE-ER4 in 40 km reach respectively.)[2]
In March 2009, Santur demonstrated a 100 Gigabit pluggable CFP Transceiver prototype, Santur 100G CFP Transceiver[3]
Supported signals
CFP transceivers can support a single 100 Gbit/s signal like 100GbE or OTU4 or one or more 40 Gbit/s signals like 40GbE, OTU3, or STM-256/OC-768.
See also
References
- ^ "CFP MSA Hardware Specification, Rev. 1.4" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-07-02.
- ^ "Operational Considerations for Deploying 100 Gigabit Ethernet" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-01-12.
- ^ "Santur :: Press Releases". Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
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