{"id":7015,"date":"2014-12-03T12:39:26","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=7015"},"modified":"2014-12-03T12:39:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:39:26","slug":"supercharged-wi-fi-sparks-ethernet-standard-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/03\/supercharged-wi-fi-sparks-ethernet-standard-showdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercharged Wi-Fi sparks Ethernet standard showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a standard in the works for ethernet gear to feed faster Wi-Fi access points, but with rival industry groups pushing two different specifications, it might take a while to finish.<\/p>\n

Wi-Fi is getting fast enough that Gigabit ethernet can\u2019t keep up with the most advanced access points, which use 802.11ac Wave 2 technology. Users could go to 10-Gigabit ethernet, but for most that would require installing more advanced cable. So the search is on for something in between that works on the most common kinds of cable over at least 100 meters.<\/p>\n

Most likely you\u2019ll have a choice of 2.5Gbps (bits per second) and 5Gbps, and there\u2019s no debate there. Some vendors have already announced components and designs for such products, but there\u2019s no guarantee that systems built with parts from the two camps will work together. Enterprises want to be able to mix and match gear from any vendor they like, so the official IEEE group for ethernet standards voted last month to form a task group to set a standard.<\/p>\n

Now, the two rival camps will have to work out which technologies go into the standard and which don\u2019t. This isn\u2019t the first time that competing teams of companies have pushed different approaches before a common specification is set, but that kind of rivalry sometimes leaves potential buyers waiting.<\/p>\n

One of the groups involved, the MGBase-T Alliance, officially announced its membership on Monday. Members include Avaya, Aruba Networks and Brocade Communications, as well as component vendors Broadcom and Freescale Semiconductor. The MGBase-T Alliance was formed in June.<\/p>\n

The other big player is the NBase-T Alliance, formed in late October by Cisco Systems, Xilinx, Freescale and Aquantia, a company that\u2019s already making 2.5G\/5G components.<\/p>\n

Enterprises will probably be able to buy 2.5G\/5G equipment starting in the second quarter of next year, Dell\u2019Oro Group analyst Alan Weckel said. Considering that the task group to hash out the standard hasn\u2019t even met yet, there\u2019s a good chance those products will be based on pre-standard technology.<\/p>\n

When vendors jump the gun, it can complicate and slow down standards development. The IEEE 802.11n specification took several years to set, partly because Wi-Fi manufacturers shipped pre-standard products to tap into demand for faster wireless LANs. The wait went on so long that eventually the Wi-Fi Alliance began certifying products based on a late-stage draft of the standard, the first time it had done so.<\/p>\n

For a proposed IEEE standard to pass, it needs three-quarters of the votes in the task group. Officially, the members represent themselves and not their employers. But when vendors are divided up into separate camps, that consensus can be harder to reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say this is just noise, but the reality is, it\u2019s not,\u201d said John D\u2019Ambrosia, chairman of the ethernet Alliance industry group. \u201cThere clearly are players lined up on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members of the ethernet Alliance, which promotes IEEE ethernet standards, agree there needs to be a single specification, D\u2019Ambrosia said. \u201cWe\u2019ve reached out to these groups to emphasize that point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One good thing about the competing efforts is that they show there\u2019s strong demand for the technology, he added.<\/p>\n

Joe Byrne, senior manager for digital networking at Freescale, is hopeful the showdown won\u2019t take long. His company joined both groups because it wants to be able to serve all system makers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the groups will end up building more momentum behind it,\u201d by recruiting more big-name vendors, reaching out to users and participating in the standards process, Byrne said. \u201cThings could get tipped pretty early on, even though there are competing standards. It\u2019s to nobody\u2019s benefit if it gets protracted too long.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Supercharged Wi-Fi sparks Ethernet standard showdown | PCWorld<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a standard in the works for ethernet gear to feed faster Wi-Fi access points, but with rival industry groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[741,917],"class_list":["post-7015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking","category-technology","tag-networking-2","tag-routers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-1P9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6677,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/10\/20\/planning-the-supercharged-future-of-ethernet-four-new-speeds-are-in-the-works\/","url_meta":{"origin":7015,"position":0},"title":"Planning the supercharged future of Ethernet: Four new speeds are in the works","author":"NCCT","date":"October 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Ethernet\u2019s future is now about much more than the next top speed: The engineers charting a path for the ubiquitous networking protocol are looking at several new versions to serve a variety of applications. 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SysValue \u00a0 \u00a0 It just got easier to exploit the catastrophic Heartbleed vulnerability against wireless networks and the devices that connect to them thanks to the release last week of open source code that streamlines the process of plucking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.arstechnica.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/heartbleed_cupid_img1-640x356.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8295,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/05\/14\/just-how-dangerous-is-wi-fi-to-your-health\/","url_meta":{"origin":7015,"position":5},"title":"Just How Dangerous is Wi-Fi To Your Health?","author":"NCCT","date":"May 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Technology"","block_context":{"text":"Technology","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}