LAN Standards

Your source for the latest LAN standards news and resources.

Enterprises embrace Draft 11n
Nov. 12, 2008
Until this year, enterprises have stood firm about waiting for final IEEE standards ratification before deploying the 802.11n wireless LANs. However, according to the recently published 2008 Webtorials Wireless LAN ...

Ethernet data center standards just the start
Oct. 20, 2008
Cisco and other big names are behind efforts to improve Ethernet for use in data centers. Meanwhile, pre-standard technologies have started to roll out -- along with potentially confusing marketing campaigns.

IEEE task forces move forward on Ethernet standards
Sep. 23, 2008
IEEE task forces made progress on Power over Ethernet Plus, 10G Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, Energy-Efficient Ethernet and Higher-Speed Ethernet at the 802.3 interim meetings last week.

FCC chairman gives support for use of 'white spaces'
Oct. 15, 2008
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said today that he would support allowing conditional unlicensed use of the so-called "white spaces" television spectrum.

802.11n: Game-changer
Aug. 26, 2008
I've previously written about how the rise of wireless LAN equipment using the IEEE 802.11n standard is becoming a force to be reckoned with, and new data shows that the rate of migration to the new equipment is really ...

Webcast provides primer on PoE and PoE Plus
Sep. 16, 2008
Network World has posted an interesting Webcast on Power over Ethernet, and it's a good overview of where the technology and standard are today, with a look ahead at PoE Plus.

Berners-Lee starts foundation aimed at Web's future
Sep. 15, 2008
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, will launch a new foundation focused on extending the capabilities of the Web and bringing the Internet to all the world's people, he announced Sunday.

Energy Efficient Ethernet Task Force nears Draft 1.0
Sep. 09, 2008
The IEEE's Energy Efficient Ethernet Task Force is nearing a Draft 1.0 specification, getting closer to making network communications a bit greener.

Latest 802.11 standards: Too little too late?
Sep. 03, 2008
Both 802.11k for radio resource measurement/management and 802.11r for fast handoff among wireless LAN access points have recently been ratified. Their arrival reminds me a little of the discussions surrounding IPv6 a ...

The mandate for SIP to be interoperable
Jul. 24, 2008
This is the sixth and last in a series of newsletters devoted to the standards process. We will use this newsletter to wrap up the discussion of standards by looking at Session Initiation Protocol. We look at SIP as ...

Do standards take too long to develop?
Jul. 22, 2008
This is the fifth in a series of newsletters devoted to the standards process. This newsletter will discuss the impact on IT organizations of the contentious and lengthy standards process that was discussed in the two ...

The lengthy standards process
Jul. 17, 2008
This is the fourth in a series of newsletters devoted to the standards process. This newsletter will discuss the potentially unacceptable length associated with the standards process.

The 802.11n ripple effect
May. 20, 2008
As wireless LAN products based on the draft of the IEEE 802.11n specification continue to emerge, enterprise network managers have to take care. You can't just go and drop 802.11n access points into your network and ...

More energy-efficient Ethernet - without the standards-making fuss
May. 08, 2008
A student has come up with a method of making Ethernet switches more energy-efficient, a method that will work with current Ethernet switches using existing standards.

Chelsio 10 Gigabit adapter supports Microsoft TCP Chimney
Apr. 08, 2008
Chelsio Communications this week started shipping 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapters that have a TCP/IP offload engine, or TOE, and support for Microsoft TCP Chimney.

IEEE advances PoE Plus spec
Apr. 01, 2008
An IEEE task force has reached a milestone in its quest to increase the power that can be delivered to devices using the Power over Ethernet standard.

Ethernet Alliance to showcase advancements
Mar. 25, 2008
The Ethernet Alliance recently announced it will be holding two "plugfests" to demonstrate the readiness of technology based on IEEE Ethernet standards. The organization also announced 15 new members, including Alcatel- ...

Energy Efficient Ethernet switches could yield competitive edge
Mar. 13, 2008
Power consumption of network equipment is becoming such a concern among users that any network gear that can address this issue will have a competitive edge, according to a recent report from analyst firm In-Stat.

Extreme embraces PBT
Mar. 11, 2008
Extreme Networks this week added PBT capabilities to its BlackDiamond 12800 series of switches.

Metcalfe talks Terabit Ethernet
Feb. 28, 2008
It's 2008. Where's my Terabit Ethernet? While such high speeds may seem far-fetched - many of us are still trying to get our brains around 100 Gigabit Ethernet - Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe this week wants to get ...

40Gbps and 100Gbps Ethernet in 2016
Feb. 14, 2008
In the year 2016, today's nascent 40Gbps and 100Gbps Ethernet efforts will result in a $4.3 billion market, according to a recent forecast from research firm CIR.

Ethernet patent settlement is good for the industry
Jan. 24, 2008
The FTC this week reached a settlement with a company that was trying to make a few bucks off of an Ethernet autonegotiation patent it obtained from another company.

Standardization work on next Ethernet gets under way
Jan. 15, 2008
The IEEE's Higher Speed Study Group has hit an important milestone and next week will meet for the first time in a new form.

The contentious standards process
Jul. 15, 2008
In our last two newsletters we discussed what constitutes a standard as well as the role of standards. In this newsletter, we will discuss the standards process.

The role of standards
Jul. 10, 2008
The last newsletter began to address the topic of what is a standard and used the Bell System and IBM's SNA as examples of standards that came to life without a standards committee. This newsletter will drill down as to ...