Transceiver 3rd Party FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions of Starview Products and Services

What are 3rd party transceiver modules?

3rd party transceiver modules originate from manufacturers who are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that supplies to brand owners such as Cisco, Juniper, HP, Huawei, ALE etc. None of these brand owners manufactures their own transceivers, but relabel them for resale.

3rd party transceiver modules originate from manufacturers who are Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that supplies to brand owners such as Cisco, Juniper,HP, Huawei, ALE etc. None of these brand owners manufactures their own transceivers, but relabel them for resale.

There is always a huge margin on transceivers made by the big brand owners. For the same quality of transceivers, sourcing direct from the OEM saves money. Among the OEMs, prices can also vary widely. Different OEMs sources have different quality and prices of components; have different manufacturing processes and different quality control processes. This will invariably result in different quality of end products, e.g. without proper heat dissipation or EMI isolation. It is important to source transceivers from reliable OEMs. Some low-quality transceivers have short life spans, and may last just 1 to 2 years, just enough for the warranty period to expire. We have also found smaller OEMs repackaging used transceivers to be sold as new, or lower manufacturing QC or specifications to increase manufacturing yield. Caveat emptor!

Prices and stocks can readily be available from the internet. However, you cannot be sure of the quality or reliability. Many of these sites are not operated by the OEMs. You buy at your own risks. You must also know what you are buying, because product returns may not be offered, or even if they are offered, you have to pay for return shipping which is often expensive. Transceivers have firmware built-in, so technical support is crucial when things do not work. Communication and language is another issue when the supplier is not proficient in English.

Great that you have a reliable agent, because you may not have direct access to the OEM because you cannot commit to high volumes. Just make sure that they do not change the source OEM without your knowledge, and that they are able to provide after-sales technical support if things do not work.

In the first place, transceivers should last their intended life-span of at least 5 years. When good quality transceivers do not work after deployment, it is usually the result of contaminated optics between the path of transmitter to receiver. A good engineer should have the proper tools to find and clean the source of the contamination

Due to industry competitiveness, prices are still the main decisive factor. However if you consider the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), savings on CAPEX can eventually result in higher OPEX, e.g. engineering support, traveling and downtime. Choosing a reliable vendor with good after-sales support will eliminate many technical issues later.

The programming board is used to alter the firmware of the transceivers. This is a very low level board down to bit and bytes in the registers. It requires very deep technical knowledge to operate the boards. STARPOD is designed by STARVIEW to simplify the entire process. It can be used by any field engineer with very little training. It can also be used in the field as a diagnostic tool to allow STARVIEW to provide remote support in a timely fashion.

Starview is based in Singapore, and is reputable company supplying reliable transceiver modules to major customers such as telecom operators and large data centers. Starview can offer up to 5 years warranty, with good technical knowledge and efficient after-sales support. Starview also has the knowledge to advise customer on the correct transceiver module to use, as well as the expertise to provide interoperability of transceiver modules to work with major networking equipment.

a) Excellent 24×7 technical support and after-sales service
b) Trouble ticketing system to log customer’s issue, which the customer can share with their other engineers in future
c) Remote diagnostic tool to capture the module interoperability issue
d) Competitive prices and fast delivery lead time
e) Wide choice of transceiver modules to select
f) Ease of mind during deployment and troubleshooting
g) Strong references with major telcos/ data centers
h) MSA compliant Transceiver modules
i) Reprogramming of the modules can be done on site by untrained/ non-technical personnel to interwork with various networking equipment vendors
j) Starview is a solution provider that can complement many other networking products as a niche and cost effective solution

Great!! If at any time you are reconsidering another source, please keep us in mind.