Optical Internetworking Forum Moves Toward Interoperability Standards

FREMONT, Calif., May 25 - Two new technical documents were recommended for member approval by the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) Technical Committee earlier this month in Montreal. The documents propose the installation of low-cost 10-Gb/s optical interfaces using 12-channel parallel optics. They also propose an interface for packet- and cell-transfer between a physical layer (PHY) device and a link layer device, for aggregate bandwidths of OC-192. This interface will serve IP, ATM and 10-Gb/s Ethernet applications.
We have made tremendous progress toward specifying interfaces and protocols for the optical networking industry, said Joe Berthold, chairman of the OIF Technical Committee. We are excited that our working groups have six different proposals developed to the point where we can send them out to our members for a vote.
In order for an OIF technical document to be implemented a member company must first propose it; at which time it is submitted to a technical committee made up of principal members of OIF. The Technical Committee comprises four separate research teams, each of which specializes in a different technological area. Once the research is complete, the proposals are submitted for approval to OIF members.