Ethernet Alliance Continues Ethernet Advancement

The Ethernet Alliance released the details of its recent Ethernet Alliance-hosted IEEE 802.1 / IEEE 802.3 Joint Interim Meeting. This is the fourth annual session, and the alliance states that a remarkable amount of progress was made in the development of solutions to address different application spaces resulting from the growing diversification of Ethernet.

The Ethernet Alliance released the details of its recent Ethernet Alliance-hosted IEEE 802.1 / IEEE 802.3 Joint Interim Meeting. This is the fourth annual session, and the alliance states that a remarkable amount of progress was made in the development of solutions to address different application spaces resulting from the growing diversification of Ethernet.

From their site:
“The Ethernet Alliance is a global consortium that includes system and component vendors, industry experts, and university and government professionals who are committed to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology. The Ethernet Alliance takes Ethernet standards to market by supporting activities that span from incubation of new Ethernet technologies to interoperability demonstrations and education.”

Before the event there was some consensus-building groundwork such as voicing support for a single IEEE 802.3 standard to address 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T. The five-day event focus on 18 different task forces and study groups. The Ethernet Alliance also sponsored sessions for industry participants to gather and discuss the future of 50 Gigabit Ethernet and Ethernet Passive Optical Networks.

Some of the important developments that took place include:

• The IEEE P802.3bz 2.5G/5G BASE-T Task Force chose the baseline proposals needed to generate the standard’s first draft
• The IEEE P802.3bs 400GbE Task Force selected a 4x100Gb/s PAM-4 scheme across 4 parallel single-mode fibers to address its 500m single-mode fiber (SMF) objective and an 8x50Gb/s PAM-4 WDM scheme across a single fiber to address its 10km SMF objective
• The IEEE P802.3by 25Gb/s Ethernet Task Force continued its fast track, in preparation of its request for the group’s draft standard to advance to the next phase of development
• The IEEE P802.3bn EPOC Task Force, IEEE P802.3bv Gigabit Ethernet over Plastic Optical Fiber Task Force, and the 1000BASE-T1 PHY Task Force (targeted to automotive Ethernet) advanced their respective specifications

Ethernet Alliance main site

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