Systems and methods for tracking insertion and removal cycles of optical transceiver modules

Abstract

Methods and/or devices are provided for monitoring life-expectancy and/or useful life of an optical transceiver module by tracking an insertion cycle count of an optical transceiver module. An alarm/warning indicator may be generated or the optical transceiver module can be disabled completely if the insertion cycle count exceeds a predefined threshold. The host device first detects the insertion of the optical transceiver module and then reads the cycle count along with an identifier value from the non-volatile memory of the optical transceiver module. The host device then increments the insertion cycle count by one, to account for the current insertion, and stores this new cycle count into a non-volatile memory of the optical transceiver module. The insertion cycle count value may be encrypted and/or the non-volatile memory of the optical transceiver module may be password-protected to avoid accidental and/or unauthorized access to the non-volatile memory of the optical transceiver module.