PSA: Stop wasting money on manufacturer SFP/Optics

DO NOT let a manufacturer bully you into buying their optics. They are grossly overpriced.

I am not a manufacturer or a reseller, I work for a company that has a number of large campus networks and some smaller business offices. 6 years ago we were towing the line, buying the rip-off vendor optics for new projects. The final straw was a very large install where we paid over $1,000,000 just in 10G single-mode SFP+'s. At that time they were list-price $6,000 each, even with heavy "discounting" we were still paying several thousand dollars per-SFP.

I swore "never again" and started shopping around. We found many vendors that would have cheaper optics, maybe 20% of original cost. I wasn't feeling it - too expensive to change while not cheap enough if things go bad. Eventually I found another source. I'm not affiliated, but if you type "fiber store" in google it will come up right away. My $6000 manufacturer SFP could be purchased there for $24. At that price, who cares if it breaks, throw it away and put in another one!!

Yes, I realize these are somewhere near "gray market" in that they sell SFP modules with the original manufacturer ID burned in so the switches don't reject them. I can tell you after 5 years we have ZERO problems using them. Occasionally one might go bad, but they will RMA them just like any other company.

The important part is if the VAR or vendor LIES to you and says you aren't supported, tell them to take a hike. I have NEVER had a case rejected due to a 3rd party optic or DAC cable attached. If you really are worried, buy 1 set of optics from your vendor, swap them into the same spot just to prove it's not the problem. Unless you are seeing problems directly related to data transmission, it's going to be difficult to blame the optic.

I can't tell you how much our company has saved now by switching to this. Definitely in the multiple million of dollars. When we interface with a new manufacturer up front we state we are going to use 3rd party optics and to not even bother trying to make us buy their scam-hardware. In the end they all want your business and will take what they can get.

I hope this tip will save some of your companies some money down the line. Please spread the word, stop being scammed.