The uphill battle to keep pace with bandwidth demand

Relative traffic increase normalised to 2010 Source: IEEE

Optical component and system vendors will be increasingly challenged to meet the expected growth in bandwidth demand.

According to a recent comprehensive study by the IEEE (The IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment report), bandwidth requirements are set to grow 10x by 2015 compared to demand in 2010, and a further 10x between 2015 and 2020. Meanwhile, the technical challenges are growing for the vendors developing optical transmission equipment and short-reach high-speed optical interfaces. 

Click to read more ...

The next high-speed Ethernet standard starts to take shape

Source: Gazettabyte

The IEEE has begun work to develop the next-speed Ethernet standard beyond 100 Gigabit to address significant predicted growth in bandwidth demand. 

The standards body has set up the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Higher Speed Ethernet Consensus group, chaired by John D’Ambrosia, who previously chaired the 40 and 100 Gigabit IEEE P802.3ba Ethernet standards ratified in June 2010. "I guess I’m a glutton for punishment,” quips D'Ambrosia. 

The Higher Speed Ethernet standard could be completed by early 2017. 

Click to read more ...