OT: Looking for Ethernt/Optical Device

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Hello All:

I'm wondering if anyone has seen a good and cheap(er) solution for
providing multiple Gigabit Ethernet circuits over single pair of
fiber. I'm looking for a way to do CWDM or DWDM that's cheaper than
putting in a Cisco 15454 or 15327. I'm only going to be doing 2 GigE
circuits between two switches, so I don't need to plan for future
growth.

If anyone knows of a magic box that will do the above I would love to
hear about it.

Thanks,

Mike

- --
Michael K. Smith NoaNet
206.219.7116 (work) 866.662.6380 (NOC)
mksmith@noanet.net http://www.noanet.net

What you could try is use the Cisco CWDM-MUX-4 and it's pluggable optics
that can be fit into any GBIC 802.3z compliant slot. It's just an OADM
with 4 or 8 wavelengths that delivers GigE to any box with pluggable
GBICs provided you use the right optics and it's quite a bit cheaper
than using ONS stuff. That said, CWDM doesn't get you much further than
80 kilometres, above that DWDM is your only option, and a hell of a lot
more expensive.

Cheers,

I'm wondering if anyone has seen a good and cheap(er) solution for
providing multiple Gigabit Ethernet circuits over single pair of
fiber. I'm looking for a way to do CWDM or DWDM that's cheaper than
putting in a Cisco 15454 or 15327. I'm only going to be doing 2 GigE
circuits between two switches, so I don't need to plan for future
growth.

If you only need two GigE circuits, the least expensive solution is
probably standard LX/LH GBICs and passive splitter/combiners. Available
from several vendors, for instance

  http://www.mrv.com/product/MRV-FD-SPLTCMB/

Disclaimer: I have no practical experience with this product.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no

Finisar also has CWDM optics in both the SFP and GBIC form factor and they
are quite a bit less expensive than the Cisco solution and they do have a
16 lambda passive OADM as well as the 4 and 8 lambda models.

                            Scott C. McGrath

If you only need two GigE circuits, the least expensive
solution is probably standard LX/LH GBICs and passive
splitter/combiners. Available from several vendors, for instance

  http://www.mrv.com/product/MRV-FD-SPLTCMB/

Disclaimer: I have no practical experience with this product.

FYI - We have one of our strands of fiber (about 40km) terminating in AFOP
WDM 1550/1310 splitters with the 1550 being terminated in ZX GBICS and the
1310 in an ATM switch and it works great.

Eric

Be warned that you can't use non-Cisco CWDM SFPs or GBICs in a cisco switch or router... There is a PROM code in the cisco-sold units that is identified by IOS. Plug in a non-cisco SFP/GBIC and it will shut down the port. (This was discussed about 9 months ago on nanog-l, it should be in the archives).

Does anyone actually buy the $3500 CWDM SFPs? That's a $3300 profit margin for Cisco...

Scott McGrath wrote: