June 16, 2008 -- The Ethernet Alliance announced the formation of a Data Center sub-committee, chartered to be a reference and resource for IT professionals for both existing and emerging data center-focused Ethernet technologies and standards. The sub-committee was formed to address the demands on Ethernet networking in the data center, as the role of Ethernet expands from transporting TCP/IP packets to technologies such as low latency data center application networking, unified fabric over Ethernet, and energy-efficient Ethernet.
In addition to assisting users and developers of Ethernet, the Data Center sub-committee will identify areas where technical work may be needed to provide enhancements, enabling Ethernet to remain the best choice for IT professionals to meet their growing data center networking requirements. Sub-committee members will work closely with IEEE 802 task force members and T11 members to promote emerging standards for data center networking, including IEEE 802.1 Data Center Bridging and Congestion Notification, multiple IEEE 802.3 projects, and T11 FC-BB-5 for Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).
The sub-committee also plans to sponsor private interoperability test events for various data center Ethernet technologies through third-party test facilities, and will work collaboratively to produce white papers and educational material. To lead the effort, Anthony Faustini of Cisco was elected as technical chair, and Sunil Ahluwalia of Intel as marketing chair.
"Ethernet standards development has typically been focused on technologies to address specific IT professionals' needs," comments Brad Booth, chairman of the board, Ethernet Alliance. "Our members identified a need in the market to develop a comprehensive community that will support and assist data center Ethernet users with both a cohesive story and strategy around existing and emerging standards."