Security Technology Executive

FEB-MAR 2014

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www.SecurityInfoWatch.com hose who have been in the industry awhile may remember the early days of fiber optic transceivers, where, in addition to specifying the function that was needed (for example, RS-232 to fiber optic), you had to define wavelength, number of fibers, connector type, and possibly optical budget. In addition, there might have been the choice of end point, repeater, or multi-port star or hub. All of this made for a dizzying array of part num- bers and complicated the specification, order- ing, and stocking of transceiver products. There's actually technology that's been around the datacom and telecomm indus- try for nearly 15 years that addresses this dilemma. Because the security industry is squarely in the middle of a shift to IT equip- ment and protocols, we're seeing switches and routers that reflect this. I'm referring to pluggable transceiver modules. The Gigabit Interface Converter (GBIC) was introduced in 1999, originally specified for fiber channel applications. It allowed a small module to plug into transmission equipment using fiber channel or Gigabit Ethernet. Shortly thereafter, a mini GBIC called a SFP (small form factor plug- gable) transceiver was introduced. The SFP has a slightly smaller footprint than the GBIC and is used for data rates up to four Gb/s. It has various fiber options, including Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), and it has an RJ-45 copper option. Fiber interfaces can be multi-mode or single mode, implement different fiber optic Ethernet standards (relating to wavelength, distance, and data rate), and support different fiber optic connec- tors, although LC is the most common. Beginning around 2000, a number of indus- tr y players including Agilent, Fujikura, IBM, Lucent, Molex, and Tyco Electronics agreed to the Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) Transceiver MultiSource Agreement (MSA) "to establish inter- nationally compatible sources of a pluggable fiber optic transceiver module in support of standards for fiber optic systems. Each party expects that the establishment of compatible sources for an inter- changeable transceiver module will allow the entire fiber optic marketplace to grow more rapidly. This enhanced marketplace growth, customer choice, and vigorous competition are the express purposes of this Agreement." The MSA defined both physi- cal and electrical parameters for devices that would plug into single or multiple unit receptacles (cages) and be hot swappable. Some optical SFP transceiv- ers now support digital diagnostics monitoring (DDM) functions, also known as digital optical monitoring (DOM), giving users the ability to mon- itor real-time parameters such as optical output power, optical input power, and temperature. But let's focus on security. The first way this technology impacts the industry is fairly obvious. Purchase, for example, a managed switch with SFP capability and add SFP modules as you need them to suit the media and distance that is present. If there are spare receptacles, there's future expandability. Note that some ports may be designated as either/ or, where you choose to use an existing RJ-45 jack or populate an SFP on the same port number. The beauty is that you pay only for the optics you need at the time while, on the supply side, manufacturers and resellers can simplify their inventory. A word of caution relates to manufacturer war- ranty and support. While researching Cisco's policy, I found this: "When a customer reports a prod- uct fault or defect and Cisco believes the fault or defect can be traced to the use of third-party mem- ory products, cables, GBIC's, filters, or other non- Cisco components by a customer or reseller, then, at Cisco's discretion, Cisco may withhold support under warranty or a Cisco support program..." Also, on-line postings suggest that third party SFP's may not work out of the box and may require a Cisco IOS command such as "service unsupported-transceiv- er" to successfully operate. It's always best to check. Next, it was with pleasant surprise that I spot- ted at the November Secured Cities Conference (www.securedcities.com) an IP video camera by TKH (www.tkh-security-usa.com) whose network interface is an SFP module, allowing a number of variations for the physical media. Given that, in the olden days of analog, companies built media converters into the camera housings, so why has it taken this long for a camera company to embrace a built in SFP port? I also spotted a SFP mod- ule with a BNC-pigtailed coax protruding to the side while in their booth. TKH had actually engi- neered an IP over coax link into an SFP form fac- tor. Makes me wonder about POE? Now 14 years after the introduction of this very useful and sensible communications technology, we are witnessing the broader adoption of this in security. At least we can be sure that the kinks have long been worked out. For my part, I'm hop- ing to see more application-specific innovation. ❚ Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Director of SecuritySpecifiers.com and RepsForSecurity.com. Ray can be reached at ray@SecuritySpecifiers.com, through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/raycou- lombe or followed on Twitter @RayCoulombe. "The beauty is that you pay only for the optics you need at the time while, on the supply side, manufacturers and resellers can simplify their inventory." TECH TRENDS By Ray Coulombe Small Form Factor – Pluggable 10 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • February/March 2014 T Security is finally getting on board with SFP technology STE_10-11_0314 Coulombe.indd 10 3/14/14 11:08 AM

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