Ratification of Gigabit Ethernet Standard To Be Delayed; Work Plan In Place For June Ratification
PALO ALTO, CALIF. (Feb. 11) BUSINESS WIRE -Feb. 11, 1998--The Gigabit Ethernet Alliance today announced that the 802.3z draft standard (Gigabit Ethernet) is not expected to be ratified in March of this year, as originally planned. This was determined by the 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet Task Force during an IEEE interim meeting held last week in Bellevue, Washington. The Gigabit Ethernet Task Force has created a work plan to resolve outstanding issues by May, moving the target ratification date to June 1998. The additional time will be used to complete testing and specification of optical parameters in order to resolve an outstanding technical issue regarding differential mode delay (DMD) in multimode fiber links.
Despite the delay, the IEEE 802.3z draft standard passed sponsor allot on January 26th. With the exception of the DMD issue, all other issues raised in the ballot, including media access control (MAC) and other areas of the physical layer (PHY), have been resolved by the 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet Task Force. Those areas remain essentially complete and stable. The fiber link distance for 1000BASE-LX over 62.5 micron multimode fiber was increased to 550m, based on additional field testing.
For additional technical information regarding DMD, please see the "Technology" section of the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance web site - gigabit-ethernet.org.
The Gigabit Ethernet Alliance was formalized around four common objectives -- to fully support the Gigabit Ethernet standards activities being conducted in the IEEE 802.3z Task Force, to contribute technical resources to facilitate convergence and consensus on technical specifications, to provide resources to establish and demonstrate product interoperability, and to foster two-way communications between potential suppliers and consumers of Gigabit Ethernet products.
This multi-vendor effort is committed to providing customers with open, cost-effective and interoperable Gigabit Ethernet solutions, and it supports the same frame format as the original Ethernet standard. To date, representatives from approximately 120 networking, computer, component and test equipment companies are participating in the Gigabit Ethernet standards activities. The Gigabit Ethernet Alliance headquarters is located in Palo Alto, Calif. Phone: 408-241-8904, Fax: 408-241-8918, Email: 73530.2267@compuserve.com, Web Site: gigabit-ethernet.org.
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