Branded Vs Compatible SFP: Which One Should You Pick?

IT professionals make a lot of big, important decisions. One of those decisions is whether they should pick branded or compatible SFPs for their business.

Although it might not seem that difficult to choose between branded and compatible if you’re aware of the qualities of both devices, many people, even IT professionals, don’t know about the qualities of the devices.

In this blog post we’re going to explain how to know which device is best for your business.

SFPs explained

A SFP (meaning small form-factor pluggable) is a small transceiver. This device plugs into the SFP port of a network switch, connecting to Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) optical fibre cables at the other end.

Comparing branded and compatible

The best way to find out which device is best for you is obviously a comparison of the two. Here, we’re comparing the two products on factors such as price, lifespan, and quality.

Price:

When you compare the price of the two devices it’s immediately obvious which device is going to be better for your bank balance.

Compatible devices are often hundreds of pounds cheaper than branded SFPs, meaning they are the perfect option for you if your business has to buy products that are the most cost-conservative.

The price disparity does leave you questioning why there is such a large difference in price. You would expect that there must be something to justify such a dramatic difference in price tags.

So, which device is the better quality?

Quality:

When considering the price tag, it wouldn’t be surprising if you presume that the branded devices are a higher quality; that would be logical, of course.

Shockingly, when you research the difference between the two devices you will notice a couple of major facts: the devices are often made in the same place, they meet the same regulations for product quality, and they both offer the same performance in your office.

Essentially, this means that you’re paying hundreds more for a branded SFP for the only difference to be the fact that one has branding and the other doesn’t. It doesn’t seem wise to invest hundreds more in one product just for the fact that it has branding!

If you don’t believe that a compatible SFP could really be the same quality as a branded device – we can appreciate that you might have your doubts, seeing the difference in price – consider this: most manufacturers and suppliers of compatible SFPs offer a lifetime guarantee to those who buy their products.

What does lifetime guarantee mean? It means that if the device you purchased ever did end up breaking, the business would replace it for you free of charge. This just further demonstrates the trust that sellers have in their device.

Lifespan

Although branded SFP sellers would have you believe otherwise, compatible and branded devices actually last as long as each other, with the same sustained performance over time.

As opposed to the majority of branded SFP sellers, compatible SFP sellers often have faith in their products; one example of this would be the lifetime guarantee that most businesses offer.

The lifetime guarantee means that if anything ever did go wrong with the device that you have purchased, the business will immediately replace it with a new component.

Conclusion

To conclude our analysis and comparison of branded and compatible SFPs, it’s obvious which of the devices is better for the majority of businesses. The compatible SFP is cheaper, the same quality, and it will last just as long.

Unless you’re majorly bothered about the branding of a device, why would you go to the expense of investing in a branded SFP? You’re just wasting money if you do!

This article was written by Jack Mitchell with helpful information from Compatible SFP. Jack is a Yorkshire lad who loves reading, films and the great outdoors.