The pinouts of SFP and SFP+ connectors are identical. However, SFP has a maximum data rate of 5Gb/s whereas SFP+ is designed for 10Gb/s. The SFP receptacles and plugs are not as well impedance matched as SFP+ receptacles and plugs. Also SFP+ cable is designed for 10Gb/s whereas SFP cable may not be able to satisfactorily transmit that rate.

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
What is the difference between SFP+ and SFP?
The pinouts of SFP and SFP+ connectors are identical. However, SFP has a maximum data rate of
5Gb/s whereas SFP+ is designed for 10Gb/s. The SFP receptacles and plugs are not as well
impedance matched as SFP+ receptacles and plugs. Also SFP+ cable is designed for 10Gb/s whereas
SFP cable may not be able to satisfactorily transmit that rate.
What is the distance supported by the SFP+ SR transceiver?
The supported distance is up to 300 meters depending on the quality of the multimode fiber (MMF)
you use. Quality of MMF is listed as OM1 (up to 33 meters), OM2 (up to 82 meters), OM3 (up to 300
meters), and OM4 (up to 400 meters). Check with the supplier for the cable distance supported.
Take GP-10GSFP-1S as an example, it is Dell Force10 10GBASE-SR SFP+ covering a distance of 300m
over OM3 multimode cable.
Can I use SFP+ cables in SFP ports?
Yes, SFP+ cables are compatible to SFP ports and will work fine. SFP cables are not compatible to
SFP+ ports. SFP+ receptacles have a mechanical feature to prevent engaging SFP plugs.
Do Fiberstore’s SFP+ direct-attach Twinx passive cables work with Cisco or
other third-party switches?
Fiberstore’s direct-attach SFP+ Twinx passive cables are fully compatible with the original brand like
Cisco. For example, SFP-H10GB-CU3M is Cisco SFP+ to SFP+ passive copper cable from Fiberstore
which is fully compatible with Cisco switch. The following image shows that our professional trained
staff tests the compatibility and interoperability of each optics to make sure our customers to
receiver the optics with superior quality.
Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit
Ethernet Transceivers
and Cables FAQ

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
What are the distances supported by cables to use with the 10GBase-T ports?
Does Fiberstore offer these cables?
Data centers have a large installed base of Cat 5/6/7 twisted pair cables for the last decades—
initially for 1000BASE-T and now for use with 1/10GBase-T infrastructure. Fiberstore does offer
these cables since they are industry standard and widely available from us in various lengths and
colors. Distances supported at 10 Gbps speed:
 CAT 6A and CAT 7 cables supporting 100 meters
 CAT 5e and CAT 6 cables supporting 55 meters
Do the SFP+ optical transceivers support 1 GbE operation?
Yes, they support 1GbE and 10 GbE dual rates and can be configured for 1 GbE.
Will the SFP+ optical transceivers auto-negotiate between 1 GbE and 10 GbE?
Auto-negotiation is not supported between the 10 GE and 1 GE speed. The transceiver must be
manually configured to operate at 1 GE speed.
How do I use the SFP+ ports for 1000BASE-T?
You need to purchase Fiberstore’s SFP+ to 1000BASE-T Media Converter. (SFP+/Copper RJ45), part
number FMC-1SFP/1RJ45-GB.
Is TwinX same as Twinax?
Yes.

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
Does the Twinx copper cable plug directly into the NIC and the switch?
Yes, the copper cable has an SFP+ or QSFP connector on both ends of the cable that directly plugs
into the corresponding ports of the switch and NIC.
Should I use optical transceivers with the SFP+ and QSFP direct-attach Twinx
copper cables?
No. These are direct-attach Twinx cables and come with connectors that plug directly into the SFP+
port or the QSFP port of the switch/NIC on either end. Transceiver cannot be used.
How to connect 10G SFP+ Optics directly with MTP cabling?
Fiberstore provides Polarity B MTP/MPO Guidelines for 10G Ethernet and Fibre Channel Networks.
There lists three main solutions:
Solution 1—direct connection for 10G SFP+ optics with 1xMTP harness, in this solution, the MTP-LC
harness and MTP adapter panel is necessary, then place one Type-B male MPO/MTP trunk cable to
interconnect two adapter panels. The figure 3 SFP+ Optics transceivers connected by MTP OM3
cables.
Solution 2—10GbE interconnection with 1X MTP harness and 1x MTP cassette, when interconnect
10G SFP+ Optics transceivers, the use of FS MPO/MTP OM3 fiber cabling is generally the preferred
cabling method. Below interconnection in figure 4, instead of using the MPO/MTP adapter panel
only, the MTP LGX cassette is used to complete the interconnection.

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
Solution 3—10GbE interconnection with 2xMTP harness Cable and 2xMTP cassette, another way to
interconnect 10G SFP+ Optics transceivers is to use two MTP harness cable and two MTP cassettes
as shown in the figure 5.
What is the advantage of SFP+ Twinx copper cable?
It is a low-cost option for shorter distances up to 5 meters.
Is 10GBase-T same as 10GBASE-T?
Yes. 1GBase-T is shorthand for 1000BASE-T and 10GBase-T is same as 10GBASE-T; they are the
twisted pair implementations of 1 GbE and 10 GbE respectively.
What are the SFP+ copper cables provided by Fiberstore?

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
The above chart lists detailed information about some of the 10G SFP+ cables from Fiberstore. We
also offer SFP+ copper cables that are fully compatible with major brand like Cisco, Juniper, Brocade,
etc. The supported distance of this cable varies from 0.5m to 7m. Users can connect our SFP+
copper cable with top-of-rack (ToR) switch to realize 10G connectivity.

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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Fiberstore's 10 Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers and Cables FAQ
Contact Us
Manufacturing R & D (China)
Eastern Side, Second Floor, Science &
Technology Park, No.6, Keyuan Road,
Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518057,
China
Tel: +86 (755) 8300 3611
Fax: +86 (755) 8326 9395
Email: sales@fs.com
APAC Office (Hong Kong)
1220 Tung Chun Commercial Centre,
438-444 Shanghai Street, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 81763606
Fax: +852 81763606
Email: sales@fs.com
North America (United States)
331 Andover Park East Ste330, Tukwila,
WA 98188,United States
Tel: +1-425-226-2035
Fax: +1-253-246-7881
Email: sales@fs.com
London Office (United Kingdom)
Third Floor 207 Regent Street, London,
W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 2081441980
Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or
implied, concerning any equipment, equipment features, or service offered or to be offered by Fiberstore.
Fiberstore reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no
responsibility for its use. This information document describes features that may not be currently available.
Contact a Fiberstore sales team for information on feature and product availability.
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