TheNBASE-T Alliance, an industry-wide cooperative effort focused on enabling the development and deployment of products that support 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T Ethernet, and theEthernet Alliance today announced that they have signed an agreement to consolidate both groups' activities under the Ethernet Alliance.
The Ethernet Alliance is a global consortium that includes system and component vendors, industry experts, and university and government professionals who are committed to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology. The industry group takes Ethernet standards to market by supporting activities that span from incubation of new Ethernet technologies tointeroperability demonstrations and education.
NBASE-T technology is Ethernet signaling that boosts the performance of Cat5e and Cat6 twisted-pair cabling well beyond the 1 Gbps rates used for the past nearly 20 years. Delivering up to 2.5 Gbps or 5 Gbps to the 1.3+ billion installed base of Cat5e and Cat6 outlets, NBASE-T solutions enable users to transform their networks in the most cost-effective, least disruptive manner. A complement to the IEEE 802.3bz, 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T standard, the NBASE-T specification includes NBASE-T Downshift that dynamically selects the maximum sustainable speed for a particular cable.
Per an Ethernet Alliance statement, "The new agreement serves as a significant growth milestone for the Ethernet community, and represents four years of collaboration between the organizations, including joint market research, member plugfests and support of the IEEE 802.3bz 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T Ethernet standard development."
“In just over four years, the NBASE-T Alliance member companies helped build consensus within the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group, enabling approval of a new 2.5G/5G Ethernet standard, and deployed the technology so it is now entrenched in multiple markets well beyond our target industries," says Peter Jones, NBASE-T Alliance Chairman. "With the momentum growing stronger every day, the time is right to consolidate the strength of our members with the Ethernet Alliance, the leading voice of Ethernet technology, to ensure NBASE-T, and all Ethernet technologies, continue to best serve the needs of the market.”
Through the merger, NBASE-T Alliance resources, activities and members will be consolidated into the Ethernet Alliance, increasing the focus on mainstream BASE-T Ethernet technology. All NBASE-T technology specifications and the alliance’s library of resources will continue to be publicly accessible.
“NBASE-T technology is significantly impacting the market with the biggest transition we’ve seen in campus switching since 2000,” asserts Tam Dell’Oro, Founder and CEO of Dell’Oro Group. “We see 802.11ax driving the continued growth and expansion of NBASE-T adoption in a vast range of markets and, across the industry, NBASE-T technology is clearly powering a major inflection point in campus networking. The merger of the NBASE-T Alliance into the Ethernet Alliance is a smart way to utilize resources and member company strengths to bolster the success of NBASE-T technology, and all Ethernet technologies, into the future.”
Greg McSorley, Ethernet Alliance President, concludes, “As the Ethernet roadmap expands, NBASE-T technologies focused on 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T have become an integral part of the industry ecosystem, and we consider this merger a natural, evolutionary step. The demand for faster, more reliable high-speed connectivity is exploding across many market segments. We can better meet this growing need by combining our resources, membership and expertise.”
See Also: The authoritative NBASE-T performance and cabling guidelines cheat sheet
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