IEEE Seeks Data On Ethernet Bandwidth Needs 117
itwbennett writes "The IEEE has formed a group to assess demand for a faster form of Ethernet, taking the first step toward what could become a Terabit Ethernet standard. 'We all contacted people privately' around 2005 to gauge the need for a faster specification, said John D'Ambrosia, chairman of the new ad hoc group. 'We only got, like, seven data points.' Disagreement about speeds complicated the process of developing the current standard, called 802.3ab. Though carriers and aggregation switch vendors agreed the IEEE should pursue a 100Gbps speed, server vendors said they wouldn't need adapters that fast until years later. They wanted a 40Gbps standard, and it emerged later that there was also some demand for 40Gbps among switch makers, D'Ambrosia said. 'I don't want to get blindsided by not understanding bandwidth trends again.'"
Re:Build it (Score:5, Informative)
Much of the talk is about operator and hub level, not end-user. As a result, terabit ethernet makes sense with numbers you present - provided specific hub serves enough clients.
Essentially it's a case of making internal ISP networks simpler to build.
Re:Build it (Score:4, Informative)
depends what you're using it for, doesn't it?
gig-e is still slow. sure it might be fine for a single desktop port, but...
hook it up to a SAN, and before you know it you're running into the limits of a few gig-e ports bound into an etherchannel.
storage requirements are going to continue to grow. HD video / audio is going to continue to become more widespread. if you're dealing with limited numbers of cables to carry data for large (and increasing) numbers of users, there's no escaping the need for more bandwidth.