I wanted to share with you a number of updates from last month's IEEE 802.3 meeting in San Diego, California. Cadence has a comprehensive portfolio of design and verification IP, many of which support the latest Ethernet standards. Here are my observations on how things have progressed in the standards meetings over the last few months.
Automotive Ethernet - there are now two projects underway to standardize automotive PHYs. The 802.3bp project is standardizing the 1000BASE-T1 gigabit PHY and the 802.3bw project is standardizing the 100BASE-T1 100Mbps PHY. The 802.3bw project has just been approved and is developing a fast-track 802.3 standard from the OPEN Alliance OABR standard. The automotive industry felt it necessary for this PHY to be standardized in 802.3 to ensure interoperability.
25G Ethernet - server interconnect is now moving from 1G to 10G due to the availability of low-cost SFP+ and 10GBASE-T PHYs. The next speed beyond 10G is now expected to be 25G rather than 40G for cost reasons. 25G SerDes enables single-lane solutions for 25G. A study group for 25G Ethernet has now been approved.
100G Ethernet - the 802.3bj project is now complete and the 802.3bm project almost complete. 802.3bj standardized four-lane PHYs for backplane and twin-ax cable (100GBASE-KR4 and 100GBASE-CR4). 802.3bm is standardizing a four-lane elactrical interface CAUI-4 and a four-lane MMF optical PHY (100GBASE-SR4). The completion of these standards makes 100G Ethernet realistic from a cost and port density point of view.
400G Ethernet - the 802.3bs project is now underway with over 150 people in attendance. 2017 is the earliest a standard for 400G Ethernet could be produced. There are still a number of uncertainties about the best technical approach; for example, should the electrical interface be just 16 lanes of 25G, or should 8 lanes of 50G also be supported?
Other - the last consolidated 802.3 standard was published in 2012. The 802.3bx project has now been formed to produce a new consolidated standard including the 802.3bj, 802.3bk, and 802.3bm revisions. This will be published in 2015. On a touching note, many moving tributes were paid to Hugh Barrass, who died unexpectedly on June 24. Hugh was a significant contributor to 802.3 and a good friend to many.
While I was in San Diego, I was fortunate to have a chance to watch a blue whale. Below are a couple of photos, and here is a link to a related YouTube video I posted: at http://youtu.be/i7Zx_tt50gQ
Arthur Marris
August 2014