Abstract: Optical and electrical modules with enhanced features and associated apparatus and methods. The optical modules are configured to implement one or more features that are offloaded from Ethernet devices to which the optical modules are configured to be attached. The features include support for timestamping packets and preamble using IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) profiles, support for implementing IEEE 1588 one-step operations, support for implementing IEEE 1588 Ethernet Synchronous Clocks (SyncE) profiles, support for In-Band Network Telemetry (INT), and support for implementing a MACsec security protocol defined by IEEE standard 802.1AD. The enhanced features provided by the optical modules enable Ethernet devices to be upgraded to support the enhanced features by replacing conventional optical modules with the optical modules disclosed herein. Support for White Rabbit IEEE PTP and SyncE profiles is also provided.