Small form-factor pluggable interface
The SFP interface (Small Form Factor Pluggable interface) is an industry standard daughter card used in networking devices (esp. those by Cisco). It essentially interfaces a network device mother board (for a switch, router or similar device) with a fibre optic cable using an SFF Connector. Such boards can carry data at speeds of around 10GBit/s. Their main advantage is that new speeds can be interfaced to an expensive network device by changing only the SFP module.
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Small form-factor pluggable (SFP) is a specification for a new generation of optical modular transceivers. The devices are designed for use with small form factor (SFF) connectors, and offer high speed and physical compactness. SFP transceivers are expected to perform at data speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Because SFP modules can be easily interchanged, fiber optic networks can be upgraded and maintained more conveniently than has been the case with traditional modules. Rather than replacing an entire circuit containing several modules, a single module can be removed and replaced for repair or upgrading. This can result in a substantial cost savings, both in maintenance and in upgrading efforts.