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To: w2j2 who wrote (12370)	11/8/1997 9:07:00 AM
From: KJ. Moy	Respond to of 29386

Walter, thanks for the post. GE is far from plug and play. There are a lot more problems with GE(whatever the final standards happens to be). But, cabling is a biggie. Some excerpts from the article. <<<"On multimode, 100 meters is cutting it real short," said Frank Ricci, director of technical services at InterSignal, an Internet service provider in Montreal. "As a user, you're playing with fire if you don't have everything about upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet qualified, including cabling.">>> When some of these already in place "multimode" fiber does not meet the GE 'standard', FC may become the only plug and play option without massive upgrades. <<<The limitation could warrant a re-evaluation of Gigabit Ethernet's role as a backbone technology, said Sam Alunni, an analyst at Sterling Research, in Framingham, Mass."Administrators have planned for this upgrade, so I don't think you'll see them just up and switch to ATM," Alunni said. "But this is a serious problem, and it will rattle those [upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet]. It plants quite a bit of fear, uncertainty and doubt.">>> It doesn't seem GE has gotten much further from last year.

To: w2j2 who wrote (12370)	11/8/1997 11:44:00 PM
From: Bradley W. Price	Respond to of 29386

Walter, here is the whole article. ROFL.........................all the way to the bank. Who is going to install this stuff? Restrictions slow Gigabit Ethernet <Picture: --------------------------------------------------------->By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online 11.07.97 6:00 pm ET <Picture> The multimode fiber-optic cable installed in corporate backbones may fetter those corporations' ability to use Gigabit Ethernet over long distances. The next-generation networking technology is specified by the 802.3z standard to be able to travel 260 meters on typical 62.5-micron fiber or 440 meters on less common 50-micron fiber. But because light splits when sending data over fiber, and fiber quality varies, data is delayed. The delays affect an unknown percentage of installed multimode fiber. In addition, there's no way to tell which fiber is affected, even within a single bundle of fiber, according to officials at the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance, which is responsible for the 802.3z standard. In response to the problems, the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance is expected to change the 802.3z standard this week to address distance limitations of the cabling, sources at the Cupertino, Calif., organization said. The standard is expected to be modified to dictate a maximum throughput limit of 100 meters and will then be amended as fixes become available, said the sources. The GEA group examining the problem will officially publish its recommendation next week, although sources say the final course of action will not be officially decided until later. The fiber distance restriction wreaks havoc particularly on users planning upgrades to a 1G-bps wide-area backbone. "On multimode, 100 meters is cutting it real short," said Frank Ricci, director of technical services at InterSignal, an Internet service provider in Montreal. "As a user, you're playing with fire if you don't have everything about upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet qualified, including cabling." The limitation could warrant a re-evaluation of Gigabit Ethernet's role as a backbone technology, said Sam Alunni, an analyst at Sterling Research, in Framingham, Mass. "Administrators have planned for this upgrade, so I don't think you'll see them just up and switch to ATM," Alunni said. "But this is a serious problem, and it will rattle those [upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet]. It plants quite a bit of fear, uncertainty and doubt." User John Ruhl is testing Gigabit Ethernet at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Aberdeen, Md. "We don't have the assets to continually test and monitor the performance of this stuff," said Ruhl, a strategic planner at Aberdeen's Test Center. "So there is a concern there. Forty to 50 percent of our links are fairly long runs."