SCIENCE

Study Group to Consider Increased Bit Rates per Lane

The Ethernet Alliance, in its continuing support of Ethernet standards bodies, is pleased to congratulate the IEEE 802.3 Working Group on the formation of the 100Gb/s Ethernet Electrical Backplane and Twinax Copper Cable Assemblies Study Group. The call-for-interest was conducted by John D’Ambrosia of Force10 Networks and former chair of the recently ratified IEEE Std 802.3ba-2010.

In support of the call-for-interest, John, Adam Healey of LSI (former chair of IEEE Std 802.3ap – Backplane Ethernet), and Howard Frazier of Broadcom (chair of IEEE P802.3.1) described to attendees the need to develop an electrical solution for 100GbE backplanes and short reach twinax cabling that operates at greater than 10Gb/s per lane, and how it is possible to leverage efforts in other standards development bodies.  Attendees stated strong support for the formation of a study group.  The study group will have its first meeting as part of the IEEE 802.3 Working Group interim meeting.

“IEEE Std 802.3ba did not include a backplane solution for 100Gb/s Ethernet, but with front panel capacities continually being driven upward by advances in 10GbE technologies and the introduction of 40GbE and 100GbE, the time has come to fill in this hole in the Ethernet family,” stated John D’Ambrosia, Chief Ethernet Evangelist of the CTO Office for Force10 Networks.  “Looking to the future, the development of a 100G backplane solution and leveraging that for narrow copper cable solutions, will provide a complete upgrade path from 10Gb/s to 40Gb/s to 100Gb/s for blade server and top-of-rack server configurations.”

“The Ethernet Alliance is delighted to assist in these important developments,” said Jim Theodoras, president, Ethernet Alliance.  “With the successful completion of industry’s first 40G and 100G Ethernet interoperability testing in September and the live demonstration of the technology at SC10 in November, the Ethernet Alliance and its members continue to provide the industry with the most up-to-date information about these technologies, standards development status and interoperability testing.”

In continued support of Ethernet technologies the Ethernet Alliance has many efforts in progress.  A few examples dedicated to higher speed Ethernet include:

· The Higher Speed Ethernet (HSE) subcommittee which is dedicated to the development and promotion of 40GbE and 100GbE continues its work with members to now move 40GbE and 100GbE from a ratified standard to deploying interoperable products.  As a result, HSE is planning its next public demonstration at OFC in March and their second interoperability test event for April 2011.

· To help the industry better ascertain the optimal solutions required for enterprise environments cabling needs, the Ethernet Alliance members recently voted to support the formation a Next Generation Enterprise Cabling Subcommittee.  The proposed charter of the subcommittee is to gather and analyze data relative to observed deployment models, applications, and reaches.  One of the first deliverables will be to publish the results in a white paper for use by the industry and various standards bodies.

For more information on 40GbE and 100GbE and Ethernet Alliance related activities, please visit  http://ethernetalliance.org.