Support for active optical solution on SFP Part Number #455883-B21

[chuckk281]

Patti had a network cable question:

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Does the 455883-B21 SFP connector use a twinax/active optical solution?

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Comment from Scott:

The SFP referenced is optical. A DAC is a type of Twinax. They can be passive in short distances and active for longer distance.

And from Dan:

Patti, the part number you listed is a Fiber Short Range transceiver.

This requires a similar "SR" transceiver on the other end that matches the remote side vendor (so if a Cisco switch, use a Cisco transceiver on that side)

Then you use MultiMode fiber to connect the two transceivers.

OM3 and OM4 are 10Gb capable no problem.

The HP part number you gave uses an LC type connector which is fairly common on newer gear.

DAC cables are Twinax Copper cables, but they have the transceivers built in on both sides.

So you do NOT need a separate transceiver.

1m, 3m and 5m lengths are almost always Passive cables and cost under $200 USD.

7m and 10m lengths are usually Active cables in that the transceiver on each end has additional circuitry to boost the power.  Because of this they run up to around $900 USD.

But since SR Fiber transceivers run around $700-1000 each, and you need two, even the Active DACs are still a cheaper option.

Short version:

DACs comes in Passive and Active

Fiber comes SR and LR

The two are different technologies and cannot be mixed on the same link.

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