Gigabit Ethernet

Work is underway on an addition to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard, called the IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet standard. Completion date for the new standard is expected to be early 1998.

An article in Network World (27May1996, p1, V13, #22) notes that vendors are already announcing pre-standard "Gigabit Ethernet" offerings for sale with an expected shipping date in late 1996 and early 1997. Since the IEEE standard is still a long way from completion, these products may very likely require upgrading to interoperate with equipment that is built according to the final standard.

  • Gigabit Ethernet Alliance

    • Official Web page of the Gigabit Ethernet Alliance. Lots of information here on how the system works, interoperability issues, lists of vendors, etc.
  • IEEE Gigabit Ethernet Information

    • Working documents of the group developing the IEEE 802.3z Gigabit Ethernet standard. For those who want the nitty gritty details of a standard in process.

    Fibre Channel

    The media and signaling specifications for the Gigabit Ethernet system will be based on a variation of the existing Fibre Channel physical media standard.

    Fibre Channel is a standard defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in the ANSI X3T11 specification. The Fibre Channel standard allows for a wide range of speeds, currently from 12.5 to 100 megabytes per second over a variety of media including coaxial cable, twisted-pair, and fiber optic.

  • Fibre Channel Association

    • A comprehensive source for Fibre Channel information.
    Back to the Ethernet home page.