The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory is the networking industry's foremost independent third-party proven ground for developing technologies. Recently, UNH-IOL (News - Alert) announced that it is the first third-party testing facility which possesses the capability to test Energy Efficient Ethernet, or IEEE (News - Alert) 802.3az. IEEE 802.3az is a new protocol intended for addressing the mounting demands of companies and enterprises to be both energy efficient and energy conscious.
The existing Ethernet protocol sustains a constant link between devices that permits users with instant connectivity, but at the cost of high energy consumption. But, with this new EEE standard, the network devices are able to enter a low power idle mode when not transmitting data. This reduces energy requirements to a great extend. Also, any network devices can be woken up and back in normal operation with minimal latency. This leads to minute or no impact on the data transmission. The EEE standard is a main component to other energy efficiency standards that include EPA's Energy Star program for server and data center energy efficiency.
The UNH-IOL mainly concentrates on testing services for data, telecom and storage networking technology. It helps to economically boost go-to market time for products. In compliance with the IEEE 802.3az Task Force's current draft standard, the UNH-IOL's EEE testing service enables member companies to evaluate the interoperability of devices prior to the finalization of the standard. This results in the provision of opportunity to have market-ready equipment available as soon as the standard is approved.
In a release Jeff Lapak who is the Senior Engineer for the UNH-IOL said that "The standard is expected to be completed by 2011 and products that support the current draft of the standard are now being released. Energy efficiency is top of mind with our member companies and their customers so the pre-testing process will allow them to be able to deliver new solutions in the quickest possible timeframe."
Despite ensuring product interoperability, the UNH-IOL adds widely to technology standards development via participation in various standards bodies and industry forums. UNH-IOL can be considered as the de facto standard for knowledge and experience in Ethernet testing. At present, UNH-IOL is providing EEE testing for Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet and will start to offer EEE testing in all flavors of Ethernet by 2011.
Carolyn John is a Contributor to TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please columnist page.Edited by Juliana Kenny