IEEE
Approves 10 Gbit/s Ethernet Standard, Raising Operating Speed
10X and Adding Connectivity to WANs and MANs
Contact:
Karen McCabe +1 732 562 3824, k.mccabe@ieee.org
PISCATAWAY,
N.J., 18 June 2002 The world of Ethernet communications just
got faster and more connected. IEEE Standard 802.3ae™, a
new standard from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, extends the speed of Ethernet operations by an order
of magnitude to 10 Gbit/s and makes provision for linking Ethernet
local area networks (LANs) to municipal and wide area networks
(MANs and WANs). The standard reflects Ethernet's ongoing evolution
toward higher speed as network and Internet traffic continue to
expand dramatically.
IEEE 802.3ae™,
"Media Access Control Parameters, Physical Layers and Management
Parameters for 10 Gb/s Operation," was approved by the IEEE
Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board on June 13. Work
on the standard began in early 1999 and has involved hundreds
of industry participants from around the world.
The new standard,
which offers a straightforward upgrade path for Gigabit Ethernet
backbones, is specified for fiber optic media and uses full duplex
operation. Its optical interfaces provide options for single mode
fibers at distances up to 40 km and for multimode fibers at distances
to 300 m. The new standard uses the same management architecture
as appears in earlier Ethernet standards. In enterprise applications,
this will allow most users to leverage their existing Ethernet
investments when switching to 10 Gbit/s operation through the
reuse of their installed architecture, software and cabling.
The standard
reaches beyond Ethernet's traditional LAN space and enables easy
connection to other networking technologies. An optional WAN physical
layer allows 10 Gbit/s Ethernet links to be extended over MAN
and WAN distances. The WAN PHY maps the Ethernet frames into a
SONET/SDH (Synchronous Optical Network/ Synchronous Digital Hierarchy)
payload. As a result, service providers can create high-speed,
longer-distance Ethernet links at a competitive cost by making
use of deployed infrastructure.
"The
standard fosters end-to-end network convergence at high speed,"
says Bob Grow, Chair of the IEEE 802.3 Working Group and a Principal
Architect in the Intel Communications Group. "As the next
logical step in speed for the IEEE 802.3™ standard, it expands
the opportunities for current and emerging high-bandwidth applications."
Jonathan Thatcher,
IEEE 802.3ae™ Task Force Chair, adds that, "the push
to 10 Gbit/s is especially important for the Internet, since nearly
all its traffic starts or ends on Ethernet nodes. In essence,
the new standard lets users choose Ethernet speeds from 10 Mbit/s
to 10 Gbit/s and still have a familiar management model throughout
and consistent bridging between networks at different rates."
IEEE 802.3ae™
was sponsored by the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee of the
IEEE Computer Society. For further information on IEEE 802 standards
projects, visit http://www.ieee802.org/.
About the
IEEE Standards Association
The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), a global standards-setting
body, develops consensus standards through an open process that
brings diverse parts of an industry together. It has a portfolio
of more than 870 completed standards and more than 400 in development.
IEEE-SA promotes the engineering process by creating, developing,
integrating, sharing and applying knowledge about electro- and
information technologies and sciences for the benefit of humanity
and the profession. For further information on IEEE-SA visit:
http://standards.ieee.org/.
About the
IEEE
The IEEE has more than 375,000 members in approximately 150 countries.
Through its members, the organization is a leading authority on
areas ranging from aerospace, computers and telecommunications
to biomedicine, electric power and consumer electronics. The IEEE
produces nearly 30 percent of the world's literature in the electrical
and electronics engineering, computing and control technology
fields. This nonprofit organization also sponsors or cosponsors
more than 300 technical conferences each year. Additional information
about the IEEE can be found at http://www.ieee.org/.
802.3ae and
802.3 are trademarks of the IEEE. 802 is a registered trademark
of the IEEE. All other names or product names are the trademarks,
service marks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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