Ethernet wins allies: 10 Gb/s Ethernet group forms to promote standard

Developed to address the needs of the bandwidth demand in the metropolitan area network and in the WAN, 10 Gb/s Ethernet could help service providers ease network congestion. But lacking an industry standard, companies such as Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and 3Com may have difficulty promoting the technology as a viable solution because of interoperability concerns, lack of industry awareness and poorer communications between suppliers and users.

The 10 Gb/s Ethernet standard came one step closer to reality last week with the formation of the IEEE 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance. Founders include Cisco, Extreme Networks, Intel, Nortel, 3Com, Sun Microsystems and World Wide Packets.

In addition to promoting industry awareness and acceptance among service providers, the alliance will educate service providers about planning for the technology, which is expected to hit the market in early 2001, said Edward Hopkins, technology marketing director for 3Com.

As desktop speeds increase to gigabit rates, LAN, and eventually MAN, speeds must compensate. "With gigabit speeds at the desktop, we have to have higher than gigabit speed for our servers and switch-to-switch type communication," said Willem Wery, technology marketing manager for Intel.

Taking Ethernet from its LAN home base to the MAN and WAN may give competing technologies such as packet over Sonet a run for the money, said Rod Wilson, director of the 10G Ethernet project for Nortel. "The service providers that we talk to every day see that the 10 gigabit Ethernet standard is starting to look like a richer solution."

Considering Ethernet's reputation, high speed for low cost is also a factor in the technology's projected success.

"The 10 gigabit Ethernet market will be very strong with respect to Ethernet pricing," said Greg Collins, director for the Dell'Oro Group. "If 10 gigabit Ethernet sells at a multiple of 1 gigabit - be it a multiple of five or eight-where end users get a price performance benefit over 1 gigabit, we'll see a strong demand."

One IP-based service provider, Yipes, already has built its network based on gigabit Ethernet rather than ATM or Sonet because of its positive price points and reliability. "Gigabit Ethernet has improved its stability to the equivalent of Sonet and ATM, and it delivers the bandwidth more flexibly and at a lower cost," said Jerry Parrick, CEO of Yipes.

"Bandwidth requirements are increasing so fast that we need to see an extension of the 1 gigabit [Ethernet] solution to 10 gigabit [Ethernet]," said Kamran Sistanizadeh, vice president of network architecture for Yipes. The transition from 1 to 10 Gb/s may not necessarily be seamless, but it should be smooth, Sistanizadeh said. "We want that transition to be as easy as possible."

Familiarity is another key factor for 10 Gb/s Ethernet, Hopkins said. "Ethernet in the LAN is simple and understood. With 10 gigabit Ethernet, that simplicity will extend to the MAN and the WAN."