Leading optical component vendors announced the release of a Quad (4-channel) Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) optical module specification for final review. The group has developed a common specification for multi-sourcing, application-agnostic, highest density, pluggable optical modules. These modules will optimize real-estate, power, and port density requirements in networking equipment while keeping synergy and compatibility to installed optical module interconnect infrastructure.
The QSFP MSA (Multi-Source Agreement) defines a highly integrated 4-channel optical transceiver which would replace four standard SFP transceiver modules providing increased port density and total system cost saving. The device will support Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and SONET/SDH standards with different data rate options.
http://www.qsfpmsa.org
