10 Gigabit Ethernet Standards Effort Achieves Major Milestone Towards IEEE Ratification
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IEEE 802.3 Working Group Overwhelmingly Approves Most Recent Standard Draft
All Major Technical Issues For 10 Gigabit Ethernet Standard Resolved
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2001-- The 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance today announced that the IEEE P802.3ae (10 Gigabit Ethernet) standard draft proposal has reached another significant milestone on its path towards formal ratification. During meetings last week, the IEEE 802.3 Working Group unanimously approved the most recent draft of the 802.3ae proposed standard, 802.3ae/D2.3. This progress followed a unanimous vote by the IEEE P802.3ae Task Force to incorporate all proposed technical resolutions into the draft. Last week's outcome marks the culmination of two years of intensive work by the Task Force and over 500 pages of technical documentation. As a result of last week's progress, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet standard remains on track for ratification during the first half of 2002.
``Last week's success enables the 10 Gigabit Ethernet standard to continue towards ratification next year. The Working Group's approval of the draft signifies that all the major technical elements of the standard are well defined. We are at the critical point where component and system vendors will begin to execute their product development plans. Because the standard draft is now stable, we will start to see early generation products come to market,'' explained Tom Truman, 10GEA Marketing Communications Chairperson and Director of Product Marketing at Internet Photonics.
``Last week's success actually marks two milestones,'' explained Jonathan Thatcher, 802.3ae Task Force Chairman and Principal Engineer at World Wide Packets. ``The first is the completion of two years of hard work resulting in a draft which is judged 'technically complete.' The second is approval to enter the final phases of ratification. The IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) Working Group will now evaluate and critique the draft in preparation for final ratification. The quantity and quality of work thus far is phenomenal. I am honored to be part of this tremendous group of brilliant engineers and developers who worked beyond all reasonable expectations to make this happen.''
To support a broad base of installed fiber types and distance requirements, several physical layer interfaces have been defined. Two multimode interfaces address installed FDDI-grade multimode fiber commonly found in Gigabit Ethernet deployments: an 850 nanometer serial interface supports a minimum distance of 65 meters, and a 1310 nanometer WDM interface supports enterprise backbone applications up to 300 meters. For single mode fiber applications, 1310 nanometer and 1550 nanometer interfaces provide 10 km and 40 km reach options, respectively. For more information on supported physical layer interfaces, visit the 10 GEA web site at www.10gea.org.
A record-breaking 250-plus people, representing over 100 companies from around the world, attended last week's IEEE meeting, held in Hilton Head, South Carolina, March 12-15. Attendees of last week's meeting represented both start-ups and established companies in a wide range of network-related and -dependent industries including: systems, optical fiber and components, and chipset vendors as well as universities, national laboratories, end-users, and consultants. The next major IEEE 802.3 meeting will be held in July, during which the P802.3ae draft is scheduled to begin the Sponsor Ballot process. For specific information about the IEEE P802.3ae visit their web site at grouper.ieee.org.
About 10 Gigabit Ethernet
Positioned as a high-speed, unifying technology for networking applications in LANs, MANs, and WANs, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will provide simple, high bandwidth at relatively low cost -- ``Ethernet Everywhere.'' In LAN applications, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will enable organizations to scale their packet-based networks from 10 Mbps to 10,000 Mbps, thereby leveraging their investments in Ethernet. In MAN and WAN applications, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will enable service providers and others to create extremely high-speed links at very low cost.
About the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance
The 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance was organized to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of 10 Gigabit Ethernet into the networking market. It was founded by networking industry leaders: 3Com (Nasdaq:COMS - news), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO - news), Extreme Networks (Nasdaq:EXTR - news), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC - news), Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT - news), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW - news), and World Wide Packets. Additionally, the Alliance supports the activities of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet committee, fosters the development of the 802.3ae (10 Gigabit Ethernet) standard, and promotes interoperability among 10 Gigabit Ethernet products. For more information, visit their web site at 10gea.org. |
