10 Gigabit Ethernet (abbreviated 10GE, 10GbE, or 10 GigE) is a group of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of 10 gigabits per second. It was first defined by the IEEE 802.3ae-2002 standard. Unlike previous Ethernet standards, 10GbE defines only full-duplex point-to-point links which are generally connected by network switches; shared-medium CSMA/CD operation has not been carried over from the previous generations of Ethernet standards[1] so half-duplex operation and repeater hubs do not exist in 10GbE.[2] The first standard for faster 100 Gigabit Ethernet links was approved in 2010.[3]
The 10GbE standard encompasses a number of different physical layer (PHY) standards. A networking device, such as a switch or a network interface controller may have different PHY types through pluggable PHY modules, such as those based on SFP+.[4] Like previous versions of Ethernet, 10GbE can use either copper or fiber cabling. Maximum distance over copper cable is 100 meters but because of its bandwidth requirements, higher-grade cables are required.
The adoption of 10GbE has been more gradual than previous revisions of Ethernet: in 2007, one million 10GbE ports were shipped, in 2009 two million ports were shipped, and in 2010 over three million ports were shipped,[5] [6] with an estimated nine million ports in 2011.[7], although the price per gigabit of bandwidth for 10GbE was about one-third compared to Gigabit Ethernet, the price per port of 10GbE still hindered more widespread adoption.[8] [9]
By 2022, the price per port of 10GBase-T had dropped to $50 - $100 depending on scale.[10] In 2023, Wi-Fi 7 routers began appearing with 10GbE WAN ports as standard.
Over the years the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 working group has published several standards relating to 10GbE.
| Standard | Publication year | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 802.3ae | 2002[11] | 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over fiber for LAN (10GBASE-SR), WAN (10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-LX4), and SDH/SONET-compatible WAN (10GBASE-SW, 10GBASE-LW, 10GBASE-EW) | |
| 802.3ak | 2004 | 10GBASE-CX4 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over twinaxial cabling | |
| 802.3-2005 | 2005 | A revision of base standard incorporating 802.3ae, 802.3ak and errata | |
| 802.3an | 2006 | 10GBASE-T 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over copper twisted pair cable | |
| 802.3ap | 2007 | Backplane Ethernet, 1 and 10 Gbit/s over printed circuit boards (10GBASE-KR and 10GBASE-KX4) | |
| 802.3aq | 2006 | 10GBASE-LRM 10 Gbit/s Ethernet over multi-mode fiber with enhanced equalization | |
| 802.3-2008 | 2008 | A revision of base standard incorporating the 802.3an/ap/aq/as amendments, two corrigenda and errata. Link aggregation moved to 802.1AX. | |
| 802.3av | 2009 | 10GBASE-PR 10 Gbit/s Ethernet PHY for EPON | |
| 802.3-2015 | 2015 | The previous version of the base standard | |
| 802.3bz | 2016 | 2.5 Gigabit and 5 Gigabit Ethernet over Cat-5/Cat-6 twisted pair – 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T | |
| 802.3-2018 | 2018 | The latest version of the base standard incorporating the 802.3bn/bp/bq/br/bs/bw/bu/bv/by/bz/cc/ce amendments. | |
| 802.3ch | 2020 | Physical Layer Specifications and Management Parameters for 2.5, 5 and 10 Gbit/s Automotive Electrical Ethernet (10GBASE-T1) |
To implement different 10GbE physical layer standards, many interfaces consist of a standard socket into which different physical (PHY) layer modules may be plugged. PHY modules are not specified in an official standards body but by multi-source agreements (MSAs) that can be negotiated more quickly. Relevant MSAs for 10GbE include XENPAK (and related X2 and XPAK), XFP and SFP+. When choosing a PHY module, a designer considers cost, reach, media type, power consumption, and size (form factor). A single point-to-point link can have different MSA pluggable formats on either end (e.g. XPAK and SFP+) as long as the 10GbE optical or copper port type (e.g. 10GBASE-SR) supported by the pluggable is identical.
XENPAK was the first MSA for 10GE and had the largest form factor. X2 and XPAK were later competing standards with smaller form factors. X2 and XPAK have not been as successful in the market as XENPAK. XFP came after X2 and XPAK and it is also smaller.
The newest module standard is the enhanced small form-factor pluggable transceiver, generally called SFP+. Based on the small form-factor pluggable transceiver (SFP) and developed by the ANSI T11 fibre channel group, it is smaller still and lower power than XFP. SFP+ has become the most popular socket on 10GE systems.[12] [13] SFP+ modules do only optical to electrical conversion, no clock and data recovery, putting a higher burden on the host's channel equalization. SFP+ modules share a common physical form factor with legacy SFP modules, allowing higher port density than XFP and the re-use of existing designs for 24 or 48 ports in a 19-inch rack width blade.
Optical modules are connected to a host by either a XAUI, XFI or SerDes Framer Interface (SFI) interface. XENPAK, X2, and XPAK modules use XAUI to connect to their hosts. XAUI (XGXS) uses a four-lane data channel and is specified in IEEE 802.3 Clause 47. XFP modules use a XFI interface and SFP+ modules use an SFI interface. XFI and SFI use a single lane data channel and the 64b/66b encoding specified in IEEE 802.3 Clause 49.
SFP+ modules can further be grouped into two types of host interfaces: linear or limiting. Limiting modules are preferred except when for long-reach applications using 10GBASE-LRM modules.[14]
| Name | Standard | Status | Media | Connector | Transceiver Module | Reach in m |
|
|
| Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| colspan="11" [15] [16] [17] | ||||||||||
(CL48/71) | 1 | 4 | N/A | 4 | PCBs | |||||
| SFP+ | 7 15 100 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Data centres; Cable types: passive twinaxial (7 m), active (15 m), active optical (AOC): (100 m) | |||||
| SFP+ X2 XFP | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
(CL49/52) | SFP+ X2 XPAK XFP | 2 | 1 | 1 | Modal bandwidth (reach): 160 MHz·km (26 m), 200 MHz·km (33 m), 400 MHz·km (66 m), 500 MHz·km (82 m), 2000 MHz·km (300 m), 4700 MHz·km (400 m) | |||||
(CL49/68) | SFP+ X2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Modal bandwidth: 500 MHz·km | |||||
(CL48/53) | X2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | WDM |