Beyond 400 Gb/s Ethernet call for interest

The following request for agenda time for a Beyond 400 Gb/s Ethernet call for interest has been received from John D’Ambrosia. It will be discussed during the upcoming IEEE 802.3 November 2020 Plenary session.

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The IEEE 802.3 2020 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment examined a multitude of applications and forecasts a broad diversity in network traffic growth rates by 2025 ranging from 2.3x to 55.4x the amount of traffic these same applications experienced in 2017. This same assessment also examined the underlying factors of bandwidth growth, i.e. users, access rates, and applications, and highlighted the forecasted growth of these factors, which will only provide further pressure on future network bandwidth requirements. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred after the completion of the 2020 Ethernet Bandwidth Assessment, highlighted the critical role of networking in everyday life. The importance of these networks to support the bandwidth demand of these times cannot be understated.

The development of a new Ethernet rate and physical layer solutions supporting greater than 400 Gb/s will provide the industry with the next solution set it needs to address the bandwidth demands of the various applications examined, such as mobile, data center, and IP video. It is also recognized that any signaling rates used for higher speed physical layer specifications may be applicable to creating physical layer specifications for existing Ethernet rates, which would enable optimized solutions to meet bandwidth demands throughout network architectures.

This call for interest is to request the formation of the "Beyond 400 Gb/s Ethernet" Study Group to consider the development of solutions supporting Ethernet rates greater than 400 Gb/s, and the application of any signaling rates used to support Ethernet rates greater than 400 Gb/s to existing Ethernet rates.

The call for interest will take place during the IEEE 802.3 Opening Plenary teleconference meeting on Monday 9th November. A call for interest consensus building teleconference meeting has been scheduled to occur on Thursday 29th October 2020 from 14h00 to 16h00 UTC. The vote to determine if a Study Group will be formed will take place at the IEEE 802.3 Closing Plenary teleconference meeting on Thursday 19th November.

Please note that IMAT will be used to record attendance at teleconference meetings, and to conduct the polls during the consensus building teleconference meeting. This requires a free IEEE account. If you do not have one, and wish to participate in this call for interest consensus building teleconference meeting, or any other IEEE 802.3 meeting, please "create an IEEE account.