The market has only just got to grips with 100Mbps Ethernet and already someone is pushing for a 10-fold increase in speed to 1Gbps. That someone is Sunnyvale, California-based Packet Speed Inc, which says it is developing the new generation technology; it is targeting backbone and high-speed server applications, expecting Superfast Ethernet to challenge Asynchronous Transfer Mode and to replace 100Mbps Fibre Distributed Data Interface backbones. Its so-called GigaSpeed Ethernet uses full-duplex fibre optic links to connect backbone switches and high-traffic servers, and is claimed to be capable of spanning distances up to 12 miles to provide adequate coverage for large campus applications. GigaSpeed Ethernet will also feature short copper-cable links for use in computer centres, communications wiring closets and close-proximity server links, it says, at costs expected to be significantly less than for Asynchronous Transfer. GigaSpeed Ethernet will use Ethernet packets in conformance with the EEE 802.3 standard and is promised to incorporate all the components of the IEEE standard: full duplex working, link-level flow control, virtual local net support, systems management. Packet Speed sees GigaSpeed as an excellent backbone for 100Base-T sub-nets.
