LIMITED LIFE TRANSCEIVER

Systems and methods for an optical transceiver module to limit the amount of time the optical transceiver module is allowed to operate. The optical transceiver module includes at least one processor, a persistent memory and a system memory. The persistent memory, which is coupled to the at least one processor, contains microcode. The microcode is loaded from the persistent memory to the system memory and executed by the at least one processor. The executed microcode causes the optical transceiver module to detect the amount of time that the optical transceiver has been operating. The optical transceiver module then determines if the detected amount of operating time is in excess of a predetermined amount of operating time. If the detected operating time is in excess of the predetermined amount of operating time, the optical transceiver module causes itself to become non-operational. The optical transceiver module may then report its operational status.