TFI-5 is a standardized TDM Fabric to Framer Interface by the OIF that allow framer and switch components from multiple vendors to inter-operate facilitating the development of add/drop multiplexers, TDM cross connect and grooming switches. the standard includes link integrity monitoring, connection management and mapping mechanisms for both SONET/SDH and non-SONET/SDH clients such as Ethernet and Fibre Channel.
The main application of TFI-5 is for Time-division multiplexing (TDM). this contrast with other OFI standards such SPI-5 which target packet/cell applications.
OFI level 5 standards that covered interfaces of 40 Gbit/s.
References
TFI-5 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA