What are the differences between LX, LH and LX/LH?

We usually see LX SFP, LH SFP and LX/LH SFP on many websites, and many people show their confusion about them. Whether they are the same or different? If they are dissimilar, what differences between them on earth?

The Commonly Used 1000BASE-X Standards about Ethernet
Ethernet was the result of the research done at Xerox PARC in the early 1970s. Ethernet later evolved into a widely implemented physical and link layer protocol. Fast Ethernet increased speed from 10 to 100 megabits per second (Mbit/s). Gigabit Ethernet was the next iteration, increasing the speed to 1000 Mbit/s. The initial standard for Gigabit Ethernet was produced by the IEEE in June 1998 as IEEE 802.3z, and required optical fiber. 802.3z is commonly referred to as 1000BASE-X, which is used in industry to refer to Gigabit Ethernet transmission over fiber, where options include 1000BASE-SX, 1000BASE-LX, 1000BASE-LX10, 1000BASE-BX10 or the non-standard -EX and -ZX implementation.

Gigabit Ethernet 1000BASE-LX Optical Interface Specifications
1000BASE-LX is a fiber optic Gigabit Ethernet standard specified in IEEE 802.3 Clause 38 which uses a long wavelength laser (1,270–1,355nm). The 1000BASE-LX SFP is specified to work over a distance of up to 5km over single mode fiber and it can also run over all common types of multi mode fiber with a maximum segment length of 550m. For link distances greater than 300m, you must install a mode-conditioning patch cord between the transceiver and the MMF cable on both ends of the link.

1000BASE-LH and 1000BASE-LX/LH Optical Interface Specifications
LH refers to Long Haul. Many vendors use both LH and LX/LH for certain SFP modules, but they aren’t a Gigabit Ethernet standard at all. 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP can achieve a distance up to 25km over single mode fiber. Unlike 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP, 1000BASE-LH SFP operates a distance up to 70km over single mode fiber.

Conclusion
In a word, the 1000BASE-LX, 1000BASE-LH and 1000BASE-LX/LH are all refer to Gigabit Ethernet transmission. Among them, the 1000BASE-LX is a standard, the 1000BASE-LH and 1000BASE-LX/LH just are terms widely used by vendors. Other long haul transmission standards include 1000BASE-LX10, 1000BASE-EX and 1000BASE-ZX. We can see their differences more clearly in the following chart:

Name	Medium	wavelength	Specified distance
1000BASE-LX/LH	9/125 Single mode fiber	1310nm	10km
1000BASE-LX	62.5/125, 50/125 Multi mode fiber	1310nm	550m
1000BASE-LX10	9/125 Single mode fiber	1310nm	10km
1000BASE-LH	9/125 Single mode fiber	1310nm	25~70km
1000BASE-EX	9/125 Single mode fiber	1310nm	40km
1000BASE-ZX	9/125 Single mode fiber	1550nm	70km

Fiberstore is a professional OEM manufacturer and supplier of optical networking solutions. Fiberstore's 1000BASE-LX SFP and 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP is 100% compatible with major brands like Cisco, HP, Juniper, Nortel, D-link, Netgear and Brocade. We can see the order information clearly in the following chart:

Brand	Models	Description
Fiberstore	SFP-1G31-10-xx	1.25Gbps 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP 1310nm 10km SMF
Cisco	GLC-LX-SM-RGD	Cisco GLC-LX-SM-RGD Compatible 1000BASE-LX/LH SFP 1310nm 10km IND
D-Link	DEM-310GT	D-Link DEM-310GT Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km SMF
HP	J4859C	HP J4859C Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km SMF
HP	JD119B	HP JD119B X120 Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km SMF
Netgear	AGM732F	Netgear AGM732F Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km SMF
Brocade	E1MG-LX-OM	Brocade E1MG-LX-OM Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km DDM SMF
Brocade	E1MG-LX-OM-T	Brocade E1MG-LX-OM-T Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP 1310nm 10km DDM IND
Linksys	MGBLX1	Linksys MGBLX1 Compatible 1000BASE-LX SFP SMF