By Stephen Hardy
After a COVID-induced hiatus, the Ethernet Alliance has resumed its series of High Speed Networking Plugfests at the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Labs (UNH-IOL; see, for example, "Latest Ethernet Alliance High-Speed Networking Plugfest has 97% pass rate").
The most recent edition, held April 24-29, 2022, brought together 18 member companies to evaluate the state of 100-Gbps and electrical lane support within the context of IEEE 802.3ck and 50-Gbps within IEEE 802.3bs.
The Ethernet Alliance originally planned to host this event last October, but postponed it due to the pandemic, said EXFO’s David J. Rodgers, Ethernet Alliance events chair.
The organization offered a virtual participation option for this event, but Rodgers said that all the participants opted to come in-person to the lab.
The event was open to Ethernet Alliance members; those who made the trip to Durham, N.H., included:
- Arista Networks
- Intel
- Keysight Technologies (including IXIA)
- Marvell
- NVIDIA (Mellanox division)
- Tektronix
- Teledyne LeCroy
- Wilder
- Xena
Rodgers said the participants brought just over 20 products and/or test instruments to participate in the interoperability exercises, which included more than 200 tests within the structured portion of the proceedings as well as several sidebar link ups.
Products under evaluation included modules; cable assemblies that comprised direct-attach cables, active electrical cables, and active optical cables; network interface cards; switches; routers; and ICs.