Gigabit Ethernet Test Consortium Facts

Founded

Headquartered

Membership

Charter

• Provide the facilities, services and procedures that will allow a quantitative assessment of a device(s) or component(s) ability to properly participate in multi-vendor Gigabit Ethernet networks
• Develop and disseminate technical information relative to proper implementation and use of Gigabit Ethernet technology
• Investigate Gigabit Ethernet related interoperability issues and provide a discussion forum

Goals

• Provide a long-term independent facility where Gigabit Ethernet products can be tested in a heterogeneous environment
• Provide a medium scale, heterogeneous environment for experimental operation outside of normal Gigabit Ethernet design limits
• Develop a set of interoperability tests and testing procedures which will provide a high level of confidence in product interoperability
• Develop tests and procedures to diagnose interoperability problems
• Simplify interoperability testing procedures by reducing organizational overhead
• Provide a forum for the exchange of technical information between consortium members concerning issues related to Gigabit Ethernet networks and products
• Contribute to the IEEE 802.3 standards development activities by reviewing drafts and providing comments and suggestions which will facilitate conformance testing and enhance interoperability

Milestones

• April 1997 - Gigabit Ethernet Consortium formed at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab
• July 1997 - Gigabit Ethernet Consortium founding meeting and election of officers
• October 1997 - Completion of first set of test suites; testing initiated
• December 1997 - Gigabit Ethernet Plugfest showcasing the first multi-vendor tests using test suites developed by the Consortium.

Elected Officers

Current Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Test Suites

• 1000BASE-X MAC
  
• 802.3x Flow Control
  
• 1000BASE-X PCS
  
• Clause 37 Auto-Negotiation
  
• Point-to-Point Interoperability Test Suites
  
• Link Configuration Interoperability
  
• Flow Control Interoperability
  
• Bit Error Rate

Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Members

• 3Com Corp.
  
• Acacia Networks
  
• Alteon Networks
  
• Bay Networks, Inc.
  
• Cabletron Systems, Inc.
  
• Cisco Systems, Inc.
  
• Extreme Networks
  
• Foundry Networks
  
• Packet Engines, Inc.
  
• Prominet Corp.
  
• XaQti Corp.
  
• XLNT

• Jato Technologies
  
• Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd.
  
• Netcom Systems, Inc.
  
• Texas Instruments

• Compaq Computer Corp.
  
• Hewlett Packard
  
• Sun Microsystems