Newsletter Archive

February 2010 Newsletter

Annual Ethernet Alliance
Members Meeting In Review

Key Note Overview

Ethernet Alliance Members were provided with an exclusive update on ENERGY STAR and the standards process  at the Annual Members Meeting February 3.  The special key note guest speaker was Andrew Fanara, of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Climate Protection Partnership Division Team Leader, ENERGY STAR Product Specifications Development Group.

Andrew spoke on ENERGY STAR Considerations for the Ethernet Alliance and provided an overview of the specification development process and a historical overview with respect to networking.  Co-presenting with Andrew was Bruce Nordman of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab who presented on a roadmap for ENERGY STAR networking requirements and included examples such as the small network specification, as well as examples of networking requirements in existing and proposed specficiations.

Annual Members Meeting Guest Speakers
Andrew Fanara		Bruce Nordman		Rob Hays

Following Bruce, Rob Hays, the Energy Efficient Ethernet subcommittee marketing chair, delivered a complimentary presentation Industry Participation in ENERGY STAR.  Key takeaways from the presentation included how ENERGY STAR impacts the industry, why Ethernet Alliance members should get involved, how they can get involved and provided examples of industry contributions.

Subcommittee Work

The Annual Members Meeting also provided an opportunity for many of the subcommitee members to get together and work on their plans for 2010.  Lots of ideas were brought forward and work will continue in upcoming committee phone calls.  As a reminder a list of all the Ethernet Alliance subcommitees and their chairs can be found on the home page of the Ethernet Alliance members website.  If you have questions as to how to join a subcommittee, please contact admin@ethernetalliance.org.

New Board of Directors Elected

The Ethernet Alliance members vote for the 2010 Board of Directors took place and the following Ethernet Alliance members were elected:

Board of Directors

Jim Theodoras - ADVA Optical Networking
David Law - 3Com
Thomas Scheibe - Cisco
Stephen Garrison - Force10 Networks
Sunil Ahluwalia - Intel
Charles Lavacchia - NetApp
Manoj Wadekar - QLogic

During the subsequent board meeting the new board appointed its officers for the new year.

Officers

Thomas Scheibe - Chair
Charlie Lavacchia- President
Jim Theodoras - Treasurer
Sunil Ahluwalia - Secretary

The following positions are unchanged: Manoj Wadekar is the Technical Chair, Crystal Black is the Marketing Chair, and Rebecca Andersen is the Marketing Vice Chair.

Thanks to NetApp for hosting the Members Meeting
and thanks to JDSU for sponsoring the evening networking mixer.

___________________________________________________

Higher Speed Ethernet Subcommittee Holding Vote for Subcommittee Marketing Chair

The Higher Speed Ethernet subcommittee will hold a meeting on Thursday, March 11 to vote for a new marketing subcommittee chair.  If you are interested in running for this position, nominations are being accepted until COB Friday, February 26.  For more information about this opportunity or meeting, please contact Mark Nowell.  If you are not a part of the HSE subcommittee, but would like to join, please do so on the Members Only site.  Please contact admin@ethernetalliance.org for questions on how to join.

Ethernet Technology Summit

 February 24-25, 2010
Wyndham Hotel, San Jose, CA

The Ethernet Alliance will be participating in the upcoming Ethernet Technology Summit.  The Ethernet Alliance will have a number of  members speaking there including Brad Booth of AppliedMicro and John D'Ambrosia of Force10 Networks delivering key notes and Blaine Kohl, Ethernet Alliance CMO, moderating and participating on panels.  The Ethernet Alliance will also have a presence on the exhibit floor in booth #20. 

If you would like to get an Exhibits Only Pass, you may do so as a benefit of your Ethernet Alliance membership by going to https://www.expotracshows.com/ethernet/2010/  and selecting "exhibits and open sessions" only.  All keynotes, sessions as indicated "open" and exhibits are included in this registration. 

IEEE P802.3az Plugfest: Energy Efficient Ethernet

March 30-April 2, 2010
University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab
Durham, NH

Members of the Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) subcommittee will be conducting a plugfest of Energy Efficient Enabled PHYs on March 30th - April 2nd in Durham, NH at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab. This interoperability event is designed to look at early interoperability between all PHY types that support EEE operation.

The subcommittee is currently working on developing the test plan and is looking for additional participation.  Participation is open to both Ethernet Alliance members and non-members and more information can be found at the EEE Plugfest page.

OFC 

March 23-25, 2010
San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA
Booth #820

The Ethernet Alliance will have a presence at the upcoming OFC show, March 23-25, in booth #820.  If you are interested in learning more about the Ethernet Alliance at OFC, please contact Becky Anderson at marketing_vp@ethernetalliance.org.

Save the Date: Linley Tech Spring Conference

The Ethernet Alliance is a sponsor of this event and members can enjoy complimentary or discounted admission to this event based upon availability.  Please contact Morgan at admin@ethernetalliance.org for more information regarding this offer. 

Technology Exploration Forum: Next Generation Ethernet Data Center Wrap-up

"Is bandwidth growth exceeding network technology?", asked Andy Bach, Senior VP of Technology at NYSE Euronext.  Andy followed up with an interesting presentation on what it takes to be competitive as low-latency, high-frequency traders have begun to drive the business more and more.

Jason Hoffman, a founder and the CTO of Joyent, an on-demand infrastructure and cloud computing company that serves billions of page views and traffics hundreds of millions of emails per month.  Jason spent some time talking about cloud computing IO requirements, virtualization and scalability.

Donn Lee, senior engineer at Facebook, stated "Facebook's data centers already need 100 Gigabit Ethernet, and where we're going for our upgrades, there is already a need for 1 Terabit. Facebook has so many servers, and those servers can process data so fast, that they could fill 64 Terabit Ethernet pipes in the backbone of one data center."

These and many more questions were addressed at the second Ethernet Alliance Technology Exploration Forum held February 2 in Santa Clara, CA.  The objective of this forum was to bring together experts in the Ethernet industry to discuss the needs, applications, adoption and deployment of the Next Generation Ethernet Data Center. The day opened with a keynote from Seamus Crehan, VP at Dell'Oro Group, on The Opportunities and Challenges of the Next Generation Ethernet Data Center which was followed by various panels, sessions and keynotes on topics such cloud networking, end user needs, convergence in the data center, virtualization, higher speed Ethernet, just to name a few. 

A huge thanks goes out to all the speakers and sponsors who made this event a wonderful success.  More details on this event can be found at the TEF website and pleased stay for information on future events.