A new Ethernet Alliance has been formed by 3Com, ADC, Agere Systems, AMCC, Aquantia, Broadcom, Force10 Networks, Foundry Networks, Intel, Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Pioneer Corporation, Quake Technologies, Samsung, Sun Microsystems, Tehuti Networks, Tyco Electronics, The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), and Xilinx.
The mission of the group is to serve as an industry resource and to promote all existing and emerging IEEE 802 Ethernet standards.
“Although Ethernet has existed for more than 25 years, it does not have an industry voice that represents the spectrum of IEEE 802 Ethernet standards developments and serves the IEEE 802 Ethernet industry as a whole,” said Brad Booth, president of the Ethernet Alliance. “With the strong support of our founding members, the Ethernet Alliance will be that voice, and we will move aggressively to accelerate the growth and expansion of IEEE 802 Ethernet technologies.”
Activities for 2006 will focus on three key areas: Ethernet technology incubation, interoperability demonstrations and education. To promote these, the Ethernet Alliance has started the incubation process for 100 Gigabit Ethernet, has initiated efforts to demonstrate 10GBASE-T, 10GBASE-LRM and backplane Ethernet interoperability, and is planning to show Consumer Electronic applications. In addition, the Ethernet Alliance has lined up speakers on key industry panels to help communicate the vision and benefits of Ethernet technology. Some of these events include DesignCon, Interop and the Server Blade Summit.
