Why compatibility isn’t optional?
Cisco, HP and a handful of other vendors encrypt their switches and routers so that only “genuine” transceivers are recognized. A Cisco-branded SFP will not light up in an HP port—and vice versa. Meanwhile, the OEM list price can be 3–5× higher than an equivalent third-party module. That price gap has driven data-center, enterprise and campus networks to adopt third-party optics at scale—provided they are 100 % compatible. One unrecognized module can cost more in downtime than you ever saved on the purchase order.
i7Fiber Compatibility Solutions
Brand-coded transceivers
• 200+ vendor codes on file: Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Dell, Brocade, HPE, Huawei, H3C, IBM, etc.
• Three-stage QA: OEM spec diagnosis → functional test → live-switch interoperability check.
• Dedicated Compatibility Assurance Center with racks of switches from every major vendor; test reports ship with every module.
Standard MSA transceivers
• Plug-and-play on platforms that do not enforce vendor lock-in (e.g., F5, white-box switches).
• Lower cost, identical optical performance.
i7Fiber Coding Tool:
• SFP/SFP+/SFP28/QSFP+/QSFP28/QSFP56/QSFP-DD/OSFP
• Friendly graphic user interface (GUI)
• Small engineering plastic shell
• TYPE-C connection
• USB or DC 5V power supply
• No driver installation required
• GUI Operating environment: Windows 7 or above、MacOS
FAQ – Quick Answers
Q1: Are third-party transceivers as reliable as OEM?
All reputable modules are built to the same MSA specs. The only difference is the vendor ID written to EEPROM. i7Fiber copies the exact OEM code and proves it on real hardware.
Q2: Link won’t come up—what should I check?
Port mismatch
• SFP (1 G) and SFP+ (10 G) are the same size but may not auto-negotiate. Lock both sides to the same speed or use the correct module.
Wavelength mismatch
• 850 nm must talk to 850 nm; 1310 nm to 1310 nm. Duplex mode must match as well (full ↔ full).
Fiber type mismatch
• LR/ER use single-mode fiber (SMF); SR use multi-mode fiber (MMF). Cross-check the distance rating on each module.
Fix these three items and 95 % of “compatibility” problems disappear.
