[c-nsp] SFP & GBIC module compatibility

[Daniel Suchy]

Hello,

On 12/20/2006 10:26 AM, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Dec 2006, Pak Tong Poy wrote:
>> From my understandings, SFP or GBIC are of open standard. And the standard
>> modules should work with any router. Is it a marketing ploy that some
>> vendors (say Cisco reseller) say that we must buy the modules from them in
>> order have 100% compatibility?
> 
> It's widely known that interoperability is not as easy as it might sound, 
> and vendors have been hit by it. That's one reason why they want you to 
> buy their optics instead of buying it from someone else, because they will 
> have tested it ahead of time, so you don't have to.

Interoperability is not guaranteed even if you use <vendor>-branded
optics - I also experienced connectivity problems even if I was
connecting two Cisco devices with original Cisco GBICs. And the OEM-ones
(Agilent) in the same configuration worked fine...

You can see that <vendor> buys modules from many producers (Finisar,
Intel, Agilent...). They do not test each piece/set, at least some
field-notices like Cisco's FN-62537 clearly demonstrates that.

The same modules (same part numbers) you can be bought on OEM-market.
There's only one difference - EEPROM content and label on module. Or do
you think that branded optical module with same Vendor/PartNumber in
EEPROM is different (better) from the OEM-one?

There's also one think - not all types of modules available on market
(in terms of wavelengths, powers etc) some <vendor> sells. This stupid
vendor-check in software just forbids using some "special" module, which
is not interesting for <vendor>'s businesses, but is important for you
for some reason...

> You rebrand something and upcharge 3-5x, you get less support 
> calls, and the only thing you have to do is test it ahead of time and make 
> the OEM keep their promises. For 10GE (XFP and Xenpaks) margins have gone 
> down considerably, hopefully this will remain in the future. 

That's spurious sense. On market are available OEM trimmed-modules
(SFP,XENPAKs,XFP..), which appears like <vendor> - and they're still
notably cheaper than original <vendor>-branded. And this is - I think -
more dangerous than using brightly OEM-branded modules, because you at
first sight don't know, if you have <vendor->original or some
(potentially problematic) OEM. And this situation occurs just because
<vendor> have stupid lock in software...


With regards
	Daniel

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