A working group of the IEEE wants within a year a decision about a new ethernet standard. There is doubt between a 400Gbps or 1Tbps standard. The question is whether or 1Tbps is feasible with the existing network technology.
The decision on a new ethernet standard will be taken by the IEEE 802.3 Industry Connections Higher Speed Ethernet Consensus group. In a previously released report titled Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment concluded that the IEEE already that the bandwidth demand every two years will double. This would, in 2015 all of a terabit per second to be achieved over ethernet via glazvezel, while in 2020 all 10Tbps would be required.
According to John D’Ambrosia, chairman of the IEEE 802.3 working group, the question is whether a 1Tbps-standard is economically feasible; is currently within the Optical Internetworking Forum doctored to 25Gbps and 50Gbps standards, but a considerable speed is needed to meet the surging demand. Currently, however, due to technical limitations, a limited number of lanes to be used for the data processing on chips, while the Tbps speeds of 20 to 40 lanes are needed. According to some experts, there is a whole new modulatietechnologie necessary to have higher speeds per lane in an economically feasible manner as possible.
To the expected increasing demand for data in the coming years to be able to process, the IEEE 802.3 working group within one year with a final standard. An option is to be both a 400Gbps-specification as a 1Tbps standard so as to allow these next to each other can be developed. At an IEEE meeting, on 23 september is scheduled, there may be more clarity about the proposals.