100G Ethernet to the masses

[Mercury]

Whoa! :O

100G Ethernet to the masses
The need for bigger pipes for operations like YouTube is driving the move

January 04, 2007 (Computerworld) -- The IEEE's latest project could significantly ramp up the speed of traffic delivery across the Internet. In November, the IEEE's Higher Speed Study Group announced it was working to create a 100G Ethernet standard and subsequently has laid out a tentative timeline for benchmarks along the way, including the development of a formalized task force by the middle of this year and delivery of the final spec by 2010. While these goals seem attainable, the study group members are in a race against time to accommodate the increasing demands of content creators and consumers around the world. I recently spoke with John D'Ambrosia, chairman of the study group and scientist of components technology at Force10 Networks, about the impact 100G Ethernet will have on the network industry.

What is driving the need for 100G Ethernet? There are many applications where you're seeing the need for 100G emerging. Some examples are Internet exchanges, carriers and high-performance computing. You're also seeing a need when you look at what's happening with personalized content, which includes video delivery such as YouTube, IPTV and HDTV. There's also video on demand. All of this together is driving the need for 100G Ethernet.

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