If you’re looking to upgrade your network to 100Gb speeds, you may be wondering if 100GBASE-SR4 or 100GBASE-LR4 is the right choice for you. what the difference is between 100GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-LR4? In this blog post, we will break down the differences between these two types of Ethernet connections and help you decide which one is right for you. Both of these types of modules offer high speeds and bandwidth, but they have different specifications that may make one more suitable for your needs than the other. In this article, we will explore the differences between 100GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-LR4 so that you can make an informed decision about which type of switch is best for your business.
100GBASE SR4 Wiki
100GBASE SR4 is a 100 Gbps Ethernet standard using short-reach multimode fiber. It uses 4 lanes of 25 Gbps operation for an aggregate data rate of 100 Gbps over 100 meters of OM4 or 70 meters of OM3 cable. 100GBASE SR4 uses a modified form of 100BASE-SR4 transmit/receive technology specified in Clause 49 that supports 100 Gbps operation over 100m of OM4 or 70m of OM3 cabling by using four parallel sets of 25 Gb/s serial lanes instead of one single 100Gb/s Ethernet lane.
The small form factor and low power consumption of QSFP28 100G SR4 optics make them ideal for high-density applications such as Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches and blade servers. They also allow for increased port density in data center switches as compared to previous generations of 100 Gigabit Ethernet optics.
However, the link distance is reduced to 100m when compared to other long-reach optical technologies such as 100GBASE LR4 which can support up to 10km link distances. Nonetheless, 100GBASE SR4 provides a low-cost and high-density solution for short-reach applications requiring high bandwidth connectivity.
100GBASE LR4 Wiki
100GBASE LR4 is a 100 Gigabit Ethernet standard using single-mode fiber cable. QSFP28 LR4 modules provide 4 independent transmit and receive channels allowing data rates up to 100Gbps. Each channel operates at 25Gbps NRZ encoding rate with 8B/10B coding giving an aggregate data rate of 100Gb/s. QSFP28-100G-LR4 is a hot-pluggable full-duplex optical module, in line with IEEE 802.3ba standard, dual LC interface, working wavelengths of 1295, 1300, 1304, 1309nm, especially used for 100G Ethernet long-distance transmission, in a single Mode fiber jumpers can reach a transmission distance of 10 kilometers.
How to choose between 100GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-LR4
We hope that this article has helped to simplify the decision-making process when looking into 100G optics. There is an endless variety available, but these three types are likely going to be most useful for you:
– 100GBASE-SR4: Suitable for 70m to 100m maximum reaching applications and MTP-8 or MTP-12 OM3/OM4 cabling structure.
– 100GBASE-LR4: Suitable for 2km and 10km reaching applications, such as connecting a building to another building.
Hopefully, this helps make picking out 100G optics a bit easier. There’s more than just these three, but they are likely going to be the most popular types for our readers!
