Twelve companies provided 16 products representing a broad range of Gigabit Ethernet equipment, including gigabit-to-gigabit- switches, aggregating switches, full-duplex repeaters (buffered distributors), network interface cards (NICs), and a network management product. Companies who participated in the testing were: 3Com Corp., Acacia Networks, Inc., Alteon Networks, Inc., Bay Networks, Inc., Cabletron Systems, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, Hewlett Packard, Prominet Corp., Sun Microsystems, and XLNT.

The major focus of the testing was on the interoperability of devices as specified in the IEEE 802.3z draft standard. In addition to the products' general interoperability and ability to transfer data using Gigabit Ethernet, three critical functions were examined: auto-negotiation, packet loss rates and 802.3 flow control. Products were tested against the official Interoperability Laboratory Gigabit Ethernet Consortium test suites, as well as against each others' products, in a diverse, multi-vendor network environment.

Auto-negotiation is a protocol for the exchange of information during link activation which includes negotiation of full- or half-duplex operation and flow control protocol characteristics. Products were checked for proper operation by breaking and reconnecting the link in various configurations with multiple link partners. Packet loss rate testing was done over a maximum distance link by passing sufficient data to estimate link bit error rates. The flow control test consisted of measuring packet loss in configurations where the applied load forced the use of flow control frames. The success in testing is a good indicator of the quality of the 802.3z draft and the stability of Gigabit Ethernet technology.

For more information about this testing, as well as about the Consortium and its ongoing Gigabit Ethernet test efforts, be sure to visit the UNH Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Web site at http://www.iol.unh.edu/consortiums/ge/index.html

Gigabit Ethernet standard effort continues on-track for March ratification following successful completion of final recirculation ballot at the Working Group Level!
Another significant milestone was reached during the November 10-14 Plenary meeting in Montreal, Quebec, as the IEEE 802.3 Working Group and 802 Executive Committee gave approval to move forward with the next step, issuance of the Sponsor Ballot. By the end of the meeting, the approval rate on the Working Group Ballot, which opened this past July, reached 100%. This tremendously high rate was possible because of the extreme dedication of 802.3z Task Force members, both prior to and during the Montreal meeting. The Working Group Ballot process was completed when the final recirculation ballot closed successfully on December 8th, paving the way for issuance of the Sponsor Ballot, the last step in the standards process. In keeping with the continuous rapid progress of the standards efforts during the past year and a half, we're proud to report that every major milestone up to this point in the process has been met, and the standards process continues as expected towards completion in March 1998.

The Montreal meeting also resulted in an agreement to the approach to be taken on the recently discovered technical issue, Differential Mode Delay (DMD) in multimode (MM) fiber link lengths. The selected approach reaffirms the current link lengths for 1000BASE-SX and 1000BASE-LX. The optical experts are continuing with modeling, lab work and field testing to validate link specifications. Please refer to the "Technology Corner" section of this newsletter, as well as the detailed FAQ on our Web site, for further information about this issue.

802.3ab Task Force Accomplishments
Concurrently, significant progress was also made by the 802.3ab Task Force working on the 1000BASE-T physical layer option of Gigabit Ethernet. Issues regarding the last significant technical issue, start-up procedures, were resolved in Montreal, and a basic protocol was established. A preliminary specification for 802.3ab was also reviewed, which resulted in availability of the Task Force base draft document, 802.3ab/D1.1, in November.

The IEEE 802.3ab Task Force has its own document production schedules. Current plans call for two interim meetings, January 12-13, 1998, in Dallas, Texas, and February 16-17, 1998, in Silicon Valley, California, prior to the next Plenary meeting in March 1998. The plan is to seek approval for a Working Group ballot in March, with ratification targeted for late 1998.

What's Next?
The successful completion of the Working Group Ballot, followed by issuance of the Sponsor Ballot, keeps 802.3z on track for ratification in March. Between now and then, the focus will be on processing the IEEE 802.3z standard through the IEEE approval hierarchy by addressing all received Sponsor Ballot comments. An interim meeting of the IEEE 802.3z Task Force will be held in Seattle, Washington, during February 1998 to work on resolving all technical and editorial comments that are received. Once any comments generated at the Sponsor Ballot stage are resolved, the 802.3z draft standard will become a complete Gigabit Ethernet standard.

For additional information and a complete timeline, please review the Alliance White Paper and our recent press releases which can be found on our Web site.