About the Compatibility of Optical Modules

As one of the core accessories of today’s optical network communication, the optical module is used to perform photoelectric and electro-optical conversion. The transmitting end converts electrical signals into optical signals. After transmission through optical fibers, the receiving end converts optical signals into electrical signals. With the rise of 5G, cloud computing, and big data, the development speed of optical modules is getting faster and faster. It is widely used in optical network transmission such as data centers, enterprise networks, and base stations.

Almost all indicators of optical modules have corresponding standards, which is why optical modules from different manufacturers look the same. Although theoretically the optical modules produced by various optical module manufacturers are similar, but in actual use, the optical modules still have various problems.

Optical modules with the same parameters produced by different manufacturers will have different performances when used on the same equipment. The main reason for this phenomenon is the compatibility of modules. This kind of problem will seriously affect the quality and progress of the project.

Although the production of optical modules has established corresponding standards, in terms of use, equipment manufacturers will encrypt their equipment to varying degrees, which is what we call compatibility. The modules of your own brand can only be used on your own equipment, and other brands of optical modules cannot match your own equipment.

Branded optical modules cannot be used on different devices, but the price of branded optical modules remains high. In many cases, the price of multiple optical modules even exceeds the price of the device itself, so compatible manufacturers appear.

The emergence of compatible manufacturers solves the adaptation problem. Before purchasing, only compatible manufacturers need to perform different compatibility adaptations on optical modules, and the price is much lower than that of brand optical modules. This can not only reduce the cost of the optical module, but also meet the compatibility of different brands.