How Emerging Ethernet Standards Will Propel Hyperscale Data Centers and ML Apps (Download)
Building on the original IEEE Std 802.3 standard first published in 1985, the IEEE Std 802.3df and IEEE P802.3dj projects represent the latest advances in Ethernet standardization. These new projects are paving the way for next-generation Ethernet, with aggregate link speeds of 200 Gb/s, 400 Gb/s, 800 Gb/s, and 1.6 Tb/s. Specifically engineered to address the needs of emerging hyperscale data centers and large-language-model (LLM) machine-learning (ML) applications, they promise to deliver significant improvements in performance and scalability.
These projects introduce innovations in media access control, management systems, and physical-layer specifications across both optical and electrical signaling technology. In optics, they leverage single-mode fiber signal modulation and detection technology to achieve performance metrics for physical media attachments (PMA) ranging from 500 m with PAM4 to 40 km with DP-16QAM. Their arrival represents a significant stride in optical technology, enhancing data-transmission capabilities over various distances.