IEEE Energy-Efficient Ethernet Draft Moves to Working Group Ballot
August 3, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 Working Group forwarded its draft of the IEEE P802.3az Energy-Efficient Ethernet standard to working group ballot.
According to the IEEE, the standard project is on schedule to meet its September 2010 approval as a standard by the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Standards Board.
The IEEE P802.3az title will be IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Specific Requirements Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications - Amendment: Media Access Control Parameters, Physical Layers and Management Parameters for Energy-Efficient Ethernet.
When finished, experts said the project will extend the existing IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standard to facilitate transition to and from lower power consumption in response to changes in network demand for twisted-pair and backplane physical layers (PHYs).
IEEE P802.3az will provide end-users with the ability to reduce energy used by network equipment, according to the IEEE.
"Market pressure and legislative action worldwide are demanding improvements in the energy efficiency of networked systems," said David Law, chair for the IEEE 802.3 Working Group.
"The capabilities provided by the IEEE P802.3az extension will be important as Ethernet becomes an enabler for low-duty cycle, consumer-class applications," he said. "Additionally, it will enable new system-level energy management techniques that will save energy beyond the network interface."
More information on the IEEE P802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet Task Force is available at http://www.ieee802.org/3/az.
Source: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association (IEEE-SA).