A small form-factor pluggable (SFP) module and related method are provided to perform additional packet processing in a communication network. The SFP module is generally configured to at least partially process data packets as they transit from a first networking equipment toward a second networking equipment in order to modify or otherwise update header information of the packets as a function of the content of their data payload. Modifying header information of data packets as they transit between interconnected networking equipments allows interconnected networking equipments to perform packet processing on the modified header information.