National Semiconductor Corp claims that the isochronous Ethernet technology for multimedia communications is gathering support, and that Apple Computer Inc has given its backing, with other manufacturers reacting very favourably to it. NatSemi and IBM Corp are both planning products next year (CI No 2,146). Dubbed isoEnet, the technology enables speech and video traffic to be carried over 10Base-T networks by adding 6.144Mbps of isochronous bandwidth to the existing 10Mbps 10Base-T Ethernet. NatSemi in the UK is remaining cagey about its implementation plans. Daniel Hung, product marketing manager for data communications products would not directly deny that the company is pressing ahead, but said that the exact implementation strategy would depend on the progress the proposal makes through the IEEE. He did stress that the company is anxious to make sure that it is a realistically workable solution, and to that extent conformant products would have to be forthcoming. Indeed, the companies have been at pains to demonstrate the technology’s feasibility: the CeBit show saw a demonstration of isoEnet in action on NatSemi’s stand and it has published a White Paper on it.
