The Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance has announced that the final milestone in the IEEE standards approval process was reached when the IEEE 802.3ah specification for Ethernet in the First Mile was unanimously approved as an IEEE standard by the Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board.
"The completion of the IEEE 802.3ah EFM standard significantly expands the range and reach of Ethernet transport for use in the Metro and Access networks," says Craig Easley, president of the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance and director of service provider marketing at Extreme Networks. "This new standard gives service providers a variety of flexible and cost-effective solutions for delivering broadband Ethernet services in access and metro networks. Service providers can now focus on providing critical services to their market without worrying about interoperability conflicts."
The Ethernet in the First Mile project had perhaps the largest scope of any IEEE 802 standard ever undertaken. Specifying new interface types for Ethernet over optical fiber and copper media along with new OAM mechanisms for managing Ethernet subscriber networks required effort from individuals representing over 100 companies.
"The completion of the IEEE standard represents a major step towards realizing the vision of Ethernet in the First Mile," says Howard Frazier, chairman of the IEEE 802.3ah EFM Task Force. "All of the people who worked so hard on this project deserve thanks and congratulations, and I offer my sincere thanks to the members of the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance for their unfailing support of the project."
The ratification of the IEEE 802.3ah standard came in conjunction with the first ever interoperability demonstration of EFM technologies by EFMA member companies at SUPERCOMM 2004 in Chicago. EFMA member companies including Actelis Networks, Agilent Technologies, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Hatteras Networks, Infineon and Passav¿ Networks participated in this landmark demonstration of new technology for the broadband access network. The interoperability demonstrations were verified by Iometrix test labs, which has developed a suite of compliance and interoperability tests for EFM technology.
"The EFMA demonstration at SUPERCOMM 2004 was a huge success," says Peter Linder, vice president of marketing for the EFMA and technical director for Wireline Networks Ericsson. "This demonstration shows that these products can be seamlessly integrated, which paves the road for service providers worldwide to begin mass deployments of Ethernet access networks for delivery of the next generation of Broadband services"
The EFMA demo showcased technologies from the four EFM sub-task areas, including:
* Point-to-point copper,
* Point-to-point fiber,
* Point-to-multipoint fiber (EPON),
* Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM)
EFMA is based in Fremont, CA. For more information visit www.efmalliance.org.
