24 types of 100G QSFP28 transceivers overview

With the development of 100G Ethernet, the demand for 100G optical modules is increasing. Nowadays, 100G optical modules account for a significant portion of network construction costs. Among them, QSFP28 has become the preferred form factor for 100G optical modules due to its small size and low power consumption. 100G QSFP28 optical modules are available in a wide variety of types and are usually used in data centers, and each one has its own characteristics, so you can choose the right one according to your actual needs.

The standards of the 100G QSFP28 optical module are defined by two main organizations (IEEE and MSA). IEEE defines the standards of QSFP28 SR4, QSFP28 SR BD, QSFP28 SWDM4, QSFP28 LR4, QSFP28 CWDM, QSFP28 DWDM, QSFP28 ER4, and QSFP28 ZR4. MSA defines the standards of QSFP28 CWDM4 and QSFP28 PSM4.

In detail, “QSFP” is short for Quad (4-channel) Small Form Factor Pluggable, which refers to the package type; the number “28” indicates that the maximum transmission rate of each channel is 28Gbps; “SR” means short range (up to 100m); “LR” means long range (up to 20km); “ER” means extended range (up to 40km); “ZR” means ze best range (up to 80km); and the number “4” in QSFP28 CWDM4 and QSFP28 PSM4 both indicate that the module has 4 channels, we will discuss their difference later.

1. 100G QSFP28 DR1

Product Features

• QSFP28 MSA compliant
• Supports 53.125Gbaud
• 3cd 100GBASE-DR Specification compliant
• Up to 500m transmission on single-mode fiber (SMF) with FEC
• Operating case temperature: 0 to 70℃
• 4x25G electrical interface (OIF CEI-28G- VSR)
• Maximum power consumption 4W
• LC duplex connector
• RoHS compliant

Applications

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet
• Enterprise networking

2.  100G QSFP28 FR1

Product Features

• QSFP28 MSA compliant
• Supports 53.125Gbaud
• 100G Lambda MSA 100G-FR Specification compliant
• Up to 2km transmission on single-mode fiber (SMF) with FEC
• Operating case temperature: 0 to 70℃
• 4x25G electrical interface (OIF CEI-28G- VSR)
• Maximum power consumption 4.5W
• LC duplex connector
• RoHS compliant

Applications

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet
• Enterprise networking

3. 100G QSFP28 FR1 CXX (1270nm,1290nm,1310nm,1330nm)

Product Features

• Supports 100Gbps
• 100G Lambda MSA 100G-FR SpecificationCompliant
• Single 3.3V Power Supply
• Power Dissipation < 4.5W
• Up to 2km over SMF with FEC
• QSFP28 MSA Compliant
• SFF-8636 Rev 2.10a Compliant
• 4x25G Electrical Interface
• LC Duplex Connector
• Commercial Case Temperature Range of0°C to 70°C
• I 2 C Interface With Integrated Digital DiagnosticMonitoring
• Safety Certification: TUV/UL/FDA
• RoHS Compliant

Applications

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet

4. 100G QSFP28 LR1

Product Features

• QSFP28 MSA compliant
• Supports 53.125Gbaud
• 100G Lambda MSA 100G-LR Specification compliant
• Up to 10km transmission on single-mode fiber (SMF) with FEC
• Operating case temperature: 0 to 70oC
• 4x25G electrical interface (OIF CEI-28G- VSR)
• Maximum power consumption 4.5W
• LC duplex connector
• RoHS compliant

Applications

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet
• Enterprise networking

5. 100G QSFP28 LR1 CWDM (1270nm,1290nm,1310nm,1330nm)

Product Features

• Supports 100Gbps
• 100G Lambda MSA 100G-LR SpecificationCompliant
• Single 3.3V Power Supply
• Power Dissipation < 4.5W
• Up to 10km over SMF with FEC
• QSFP28 MSA Compliant
• SFF-8636 Rev 2.10a Compliant
• 4x25G Electrical Interface
• LC Duplex Connector
• Commercial Case Temperature Range of0°C to 70°C
• I 2 C Interface with Integrated Digital DiagnosticMonitoring
• Safety Certification: TUV/UL/FDA
• RoHS Compliant

Applications

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet

6. 100G QSFP28 IR4

Product Features

• 1Gb/s, each lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s
• Up to 2km transmission on single-mode fiber (SMF) with FEC
• CWDM DFB laser and PINreceiver
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector
• Single +3.3V power supply
• 4 CWDM lanes MUX/DEMUX design
• 100G CWDM4 MSA Technical Spec Rev1.1
• Maximum power consumption 3.5W
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70°C
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 6/6)

Application

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet
• Infiniband QDR and DDR interconnect
• Enterprise networking

7. 100G QSFP28 SR4

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 form factor
• Supports 103.1Gb/s  aggregate bit rates
• Power dissipation < 3.5W
• RoHS-6 compliant
• Commercial case temperature range of 0°C to 70°C
• Single 3.3V power supply
• Maximum link length of 100m on OM4 Multimode Fiber (MMF)
• 4x25Gb/s 850nm VCSEL-based transmitter
• 4x25G electrical interface
• Single MPO12 receptacle
• I2C management interface

Application

• 100GBASE-SR4 100G Ethernet
• Data Center Interconnect
• Infiniband QDR and DDR interconnect
• Enterprise networking

The 100G QSFP28 SR4 optical module is a parallel optical module with 4 independent transmitting and receiving channels, an 8/12-core MTP/MPO interface, and a maximum transmission distance of up to 100M with a multi-mode patch cord OM3/OM4. The main application scenario is a 100G data center. The 100G QSFP28 SR4 optical module has an operating wavelength of 850nm, an operating temperature range of 0°C to 70°C, and a built-in digital diagnostic function (DDM).

100G QSFP28 SR4 diagram

8. 112G QSFP28 SR4

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 form factor
• Supports 103.1Gb/s to 112.2Gb/s aggregate bit rates
• Power dissipation < 3.5W
• RoHS-6 compliant
• Commercial case temperature range of 0°C to 70°C
• Single 3.3V power supply
• Maximum link length of 100m on OM4 Multimode Fiber (MMF)
• 4x25Gb/s 850mm VCSEL-based transmitter
• 4x25G electrical interface
• Single MPO12 receptacle
• I2C management interface

Application

• 100GBASE-SR4 100G Ethernet
• 128G Fiber Channel
• 4x28Gb/s Multimode OTN

9. 100G QSFP28 LR4

Product Features

• 1Gb/s, each lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s
• Up to 10km transmission on SMF
• LAN WDM DFB laser and PINreceiver
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Maximum power consumption 4W
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70°C
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 6/6)

Applications

• 100GBASE-LR4 100G Ethernet

QSFP28 LR4 100G optical module, generally used together with LC single-mode fiber cables, the maximum transmission distance can reach 10km. The QSFP28 LR4 100G optical module converts 4X25Gbps electrical signals into 4 LAN WDM optical signals and then multiplexes them into a single channel to realize 100G optical transmission. At the receiving end, the module demultiplexes 100G optical input into 4 LAN WDM optical signals and then converts them into 4 electrical signal output channels.

10. 100G QSFP28 LR4-20

Product Features

• 4 lanes MUX/DEMUX design
• Integrated LAN WDM TOSA / ROSA for up to 20km reach over SMF
• Support 100GBASE-LR4 for a line rate of 103.125Gbps and OTU4 for a line rate of 111.81Gbps
• Aggregate bandwidth of > 100Gbps
• Duplex LC connectors
• Compliant with IEEE 802.3-2012 Clause 88 standard IEEE 802.3bm CAUI-4 chip to module electrical standard ITU-T G.959.1-2012-02 standard
• Single +3.3V power supply operating
• Built-in digital diagnostic functions
• Temperature range from 0°C to 70°C
• RoHS Compliant Part
• Support FEC(Forward Error Correction)

Applications

• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Ethernet switches and router applications

11. 112G QSFP28 LR4

Product Features

• Supportsmulti-rate (100GBASE 100GE and OTU4); from 1Gb/s to 111.8Gb/s aggregate;
• Lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s 100GE, 27.95 Gb/s OTU4;
• Up to 10km transmission on SMF;
• LAN WDM DML laser and PIN receiver;
• High-speed I/O electrical interface (CAUI-4);
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring;
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector;
• Single +3.3V power supply;
• Support HW TX_DIS and RX_LOS for telecom applications;
• Maximum power consumption 3.5W;
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70°C;
• Compliant to IEEE 802.3bm, SFF-8665 and SFF-8679;
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 6/6);

Application

• 100GBASE-LR4

 12. 100G QSFP28 ER4

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 MSA form factor
• Compliant to Ethernet 100GBASE-ER4 Lite
• Supports 103.1Gb/s aggregate bit rate
• Up to 30km reach for G.652 SMF without FEC
• Up to 40km reach for G.652 SMF with FEC
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Operating case temperature: 0~70°C
• Transmitter: cooled 4x25Gb/s LAN WDM EML TOSA (1295.56, 1300.05, 1304.58, 1309.14nm)
• Receiver: 4x25Gb/s APD ROSA
• 4x25G electrical interface (OIF CEI-28G-VSR)
• Maximum power consumption 4.5W
• Duplex LC receptacle
• RoHS-6 compliant

Applications

• 100GBASE-ER4 EthernetLinks
• Infiniband QDR and DDR interconnect
• Client-side 100G Telecom connections

100G QSFP28 ER4 optical module supports the 100G data connection by using WDM multiplexing wavelength division technology. This module transmits 100G Ethernet signal over 4 wavelengths with LC duplex connectors and it can reach a maximum transmission distance of up to 40KM when used with single-mode fiber. This product is a 100Gb/s transceiver module designed for optical communication, and applications compliant with Ethernet 100GBASE-ER4 Lite standard. Click to know the difference between 100G QSFP28 ER4 and 100G QSFP28 ER4-Lite.

13. 112G QSFP28 ER4

Product Features

• Supports100GBASE(1Gb/s) and OTU4(111.8Gb/s) aggregate;
• Lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s100GE, 27.95Gb/s OTU4;
• Up to 30km transmission on SMF;
• LAN WDM EML laser and APD receiver;
• High speed I/O electrical interface (CAUI-4);
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring;
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector;
• Single +3.3V power supply;
• Maximum power consumption 5W;
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70°C;
• Compliant to SFF-8665 and SFF-8679;
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 6/6);

Application

• 100GBASE-ER4 Lite

 14. 100G QSFP28 ZR4

Product Features

• QSFP28 MSA compliant
• Hot-pluggable 38 pins’ electrical interface
• 4 LAN-WDM lanes MUX/DEMUX design
• 4x25G electrical interface
• Maximum power consumption 6.5W
• LC duplex connector
• Supports 103.125Gb/s aggregate bit rate
• Up to 80km transmission on single-mode fiber
• Operating case temperature: 0℃ to 70℃
• Single 3.3V power supply

 

Applications

• 100GBASE-ZR4 100G Ethernet
• Telecom networking

  100G QSFP28 ZR4 Transceiver Block Diagram

100G QSFP28 ZR4 optical module is used to connect switches, routers, and transmission equipment in the data center, and the transmission distance is up to 80km on single-mode fiber(SMF). QSFP28 ZR4 is the best choice for 100G long-distance DCI. It does not need to deploy the old CFP / CFP2 interface and can achieve a point-to-point solution up to 80km without optical amplification and dispersion compensation.

15. 100G QSFP28 ZR4+

Product Features

• Supports100GBASE 100GE
• Lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s 100GE
• Up to 100km transmission on SMF;
• LAN WDM laser and PIN receiver with SOA;
• Support Multi-Pin function with IntL/RxLOSL and LPMode/TxDIS;
• High-speed I/O electrical interface (CAUI-4);
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring;
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector;
• Single +3.3V power supply;
• Typical power consumption is 6.5W;
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70°C;
• Compliant to IEEE 802.3bm and ITU-T G.959;
• Compliant to SFF-8636 and SFF-8679;
• Complies with EU Directive 2015/863/EU

Applications

• 100GBASE-ZR4 plus

 16. 100G QSFP28 SR BD

Product Features

• Compliant to the 100GbE XLPPI electrical specification per IEEE 802.3bm
• Compliant to QSFP28SFF-8636 Specification
• Aggregate bandwidth of > 100Gbps
• Dual-wavelength VCSEL bi-directional optical interface, PAM4 2 × 50-Gb/s 850nm/900 nm
• QSFP28MSA compliant
• Capable of over 70m transmission on OM3 Multimode Fiber (MMF)and 100m on OM4 MMF
• Single +3.3V power supply operating  
• With digital diagnostic functions  
• Temperature range from 0°C to 70°C  
• RoHS Compliant Part
• Utilizes a standard LC duplex fiber cable allowing reuse of existing cable infrastructure

Applications

• 100 Gigabit Ethernet interconnects
• Datacom/Telecom switch & router connections
• Data aggregation and backplane applications
• Proprietary protocol and density applications

100G QSFP28 SR BD Optical Transceiver with duplex LC Optical connector uses the wavelengths of 850nm and 900nm, realizing single-fiber bi-directional transmission through WDM multiplexing and using multi-mode fiber(MMF), greatly reducing the difficulties for customers in engineering use and maintenance.

100G QSFP28 SR BD Transceiver Functional Diagram

This cost-effective optical module solution adopts 100G BIDI optical devices developed by 5G optical chips with an operating temperature of 0~70℃ (32 to 158°F) and a maximum power of 4W. It can realize 100G Link distances up to 70m over OM3 fiber, 100m over OM4 fiber, and 150m over OM5 fiber respectively. Compared with the conventional 100G QSFP28 SR4, the 100G QSFP28 BIDI optical module saves 75% of optical fiber resources and can be widely applied in telecommunications, data centers, and wireless communications.

17. 100G QSFP28 SWDM4 850nm-940nm 100m LC

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 form factor
•  Supports 103.1Gb/s aggregate bit rate
•  Power dissipation < 3.5W
• RoHS-6 compliant
• Commercial case temperature range of 0°C to 70°C
• Single 3.3V power supply
•  Maximum link length of 75m/100m/150m on OM3/OM4/OM5 Duplex Multimode Fiber (MMF)
•  4x25Gb/s 850mm VCSEL-based transmitter
• 4x25G CAUI-4 electrical interface
• Duplex LC receptacles
•  I2C management interface

Application

• 100G Ethernet over Duplex MMF

100G Base-SWDM4 Transmission principle

18. 100G QSFP28 PSM4

Product Features

• 4 independent full-duplex channels
• Up to 28Gb/s data rateper channel
• QSFP28 MSA compliant
• Compliant with IEEE 802.3bm 100GBASE PSM4
• Up to 2km reach for G.652 SMF
• Maximum power consumption 5W
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Operating case temperature: 0~70°C
• RoHS-6compliant

Application

• 100G Ethernet links
• Infiniband QDR and DDR interconnect
• Datacenter and Enterprise networking

PSM means “Parallel Single-Mode Fiber”, and the 100G PSM4 standard is a multi-source agreement (MSA). The purpose of the standard is to provide a low-cost solution for transmitting four 25Gbps wavelengths through single-mode fibers outside the IEEE 100G Ethernet specification. It is specially designed for network applications with a transmission distance of 500m and 2km. The 100G QSFP28 PSM4 optical module uses 8-core single-mode fiber(SMF) to form four independent channels with 25G data transmission.

19. 100G QSFP28 CWDM4

Product Features

• 1Gb/s, each lane bit rate 25.78 Gb/s
• Up to 2km transmission on single-mode fiber (SMF) with FEC
• LAN WDM DFB laser and PINreceiver
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring
• QSFP28 MSA package with duplex LC connector
• Single +3.3V power supply
• 4 CWDM lanes MUX/DEMUX design
• 100G CWDM4 MSA Technical Spec Rev1.1
• Maximum power consumption 3.5W
• Operating case temperature: 0 ~70°C
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 6/6)

Application

• Data Center Interconnect
• 100G Ethernet
• Infiniband QDR and DDR interconnect
• Enterprise networking

CWDM means Coarse Wavelength-division Multiplexing. 100G CWDM4 QSFP28 is a standard released by the CWDM4 MSA organization in 2014. CWDM4 is kind of special among all the 100G optical modules. The module converts 4 inputs channels (ch) of 25Gb/s electrical data to 4 CWDM optical signals and multiplexes them into a single channel for 100Gb/s optical transmission.  Reversely, on the receiver side, the module optically de-multiplexes a 100Gb/s input into 4 CWDM channels signals and converts them to 4-channel output electrical data. The central wavelengths of the 4 CWDM channels are 1271, 1291, 1311, and 1331nm. And it contains a duplex LC connector for the optical interface and a 38-pin connector for the electrical interface.

The cost of the CWDM4 optical module is higher than that of the PSM4 optical module because of the use of a wavelength division multiplexer, but CWDM4 requires only two single-mode fibers for transceiving and transmitting in both directions, which is much less than the eight single-mode fibers of PSM4. Therefore, the total cost of the PSM4 solution rises very fast as the distance increases. In practice, it is necessary to consider whether to use PSM4 or CWDM4 based on fiber deployment.

20. 100G QSFP28 4WDM-10

Product Features

• 4 lanes MUX/DEMUX design
• Integrated CWDM TOSA / ROSA for up to 10 km reach over SMF
• Support 100GBASE-CWDM4 for a line rate of 103.125Gbps and OTU4 for a line rate of 111.81Gbps
• Aggregate bandwidth of > 100Gbps
• Duplex LC connectors
• Compliant with IEEE 802.3-2012 Clause 88 standard IEEE 802.3bm CAUI-4 chip to module  electrical standard ITU-T G.959.1-2012-02 standard
• Single +3.3V power supply operating
• Built-in digital diagnostic functions
• Temperature range from 0°C to 70°C
• RoHS Compliant Part
• Support FEC(Forward Error Correction)

Applications

• Local Area Network (LAN)
• Wide Area Network (WAN)
• Ethernet switches and router applications

21. 100G (2x50G) DWDM PAM4 QSFP28 80km

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 MSA form factor
• Up to 80km reach for G.652 SMF with transport white box
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Temperature Range 0 to 70°C
• Transmitter: Cooled EML 2*27.5Gbaud/s DWDM TOSA
• Receiver: 2*27.5Gbaud/s Pin-PD ROSA
• 4*25G CAUI4 electrical interface
• Integrated SFEC with high coding gain
• PAM4 modulation format on 100GHz ITU DWDM wavelength grid compatible
• Dual CS adaptor
• Compatible with RoHS6

Applications

• High bandwidth connectivity for Data Center Interconnection
• 100G Ethernet Metro-Access over DWDM
• P to P Access Network

22. 100G DWDM QSFP28 PAM4 Single Wave 80km (Channel 15-61)

Product Features

• Supports 100Gbps
• Available in all C-Band Wavelengths on the 100GHz DWDM ITU Grid
• 80km reach over SMF with EDFA&DCM(dispersion compensation modules)
• QSFP28 MSA Compliant
• SFF-8636 Rev 2.10a Compliant
• 4x25G Electrical Interface
• LC Duplex Connector
• Single 3.3V Power Supply
• Power Dissipation < 5.5W
• Commercial Case Temperature Range of 0°C to 70°C
• I2C Interface with Integrated Digital Diagnostic Monitoring
• Safety Certification: TUV/UL/FDA
• RoHS Compliant

Applications

• 100G Amplified DWDM Networks
• Data Center Interconnects

23. 100G QSFP28-23/32-BX10

Product Features

• Supports 100GBASE-LR1 BIDI
• Lane signaling rate 103.125/106.25/111.8Gb/s with PAM4
• Compatibility with 100G OTU4
• Up to 10km transmission on SMF
• EML Laser and PIN receiver
• 78Gb/s with NRZ electrical interface (CAUI-4)
• High speed I/O electrical interface
• I2C interface with integrated Digital Diagnostic monitoring
• QSFP28 MSA package with simplex LC connector
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Support HW TX_DIS and RX_LOS for telecom application
• Maximum power consumption 4.5 W
• Operating case temperature: 0 to +70 ℃
• Compliant to 802.3cu, SFF-8636&SFF-8679 standard
• Complies with EU Directive 2011/65/EU

Applications

• 100GBASE-LR1 BIDI

24. 100G QSFP28-23/32-BX20

Product Features

• Hot-pluggable QSFP28 MSA form factor
• Supports 103.1Gb/s aggregate bit rate
• Up to 20km reach for G.652 SMF with RS(528,514) FEC
• Single +3.3V power supply
• Extended case temperature range of -20 to 85℃
• Cooled 4x25Gb/s LAN WDM Blue or Red Side TOSA, LAN WDM Red or Blue Side ROSA
• Maximum power consumption 5.5W
• Single LC receptacle
• Compliant with the QSFP28 and 4WDM-20 MSA
• Compatible with RoHS2.0
• DDM function

Applications

• Ethernet Links
• 100G 4WDM-20 Applications with FEC

Summary

100G QSFP28	SR4	PSM4	CWDM4/IR4	LR4	ER4	ZR4	SRBD
Max Distance	100m	500m/2km	2km/10km	10km/20km	40km	80km	100m
Connector	MPO 12	MPO 12	Duplex LC	Duplex LC	Duplex LC	Duplex LC	Duplex LC
Transmitter Type	VCSEL	DFB	LAN WDM DFB	LAN WDM DFB	LAN WDM EML	EML	VCSEL
Wavelength	850nm	1310nm	1310nm	1310nm	1310nm	1296-1309nm LWDM	850nm & 900nm

 Parameters of 100G QSFP28 popular products

As shown in the figures above, when selecting a 100G QSFP28 optical module, the need for transmission distance is considered first, then when the transceivers are at the same transmission distance, the final selection is based on fiber deployment and other specific needs.