Survey results...
While I agree that the results for the survey could be considered skewed, I
think that they do tell an interesting story. If you use this survey's
results and the results from the prior PMD survey, it shows a certain level
of consensus. I'm not sure if this consensus is strong enough for 75%
majority, but it at least shows some common direction. What I liked about
the PCS/PMA (PHY) survey is that people do buy-in to the concept of a
unified PHY. The idea of developing one device that can operate in both the
OC-192 compliant market and the 10GbE market is appealing from an
implementation point of view, a marketing/sales point of view, and from a
standardization point of view. Personally, I prefer one device, because it
will permit vendors to buy one PHY to drive their desired PMD for the device
they're designing. Having two PHYs will create add burden to the vendors to
try to interpret the direction of the market.
It's along these same lines that I think the Task Force has to start driving
some sort of consensus on the PMDs. Vendors are not going to be willing to
support 7 possible PMDs as the standard moves forward. Vendors are going to
pick the ones that are most viable and with the most support. I think that
the Task Force also needs to do the same. I know companies have a vested
interest in seeing their proposals in the standard, but we also need to
realize that the final standard will not have 7 PMDs. If it does, then I
think it will reflect very poorly on the Task Force. Seeing that is
unlikely, now is a good time for the various proposals to determine their
level of consensus.
Just some thoughts,
Brad
Brad Booth
bradley.booth@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:bbooth@xxxxxxxxxx>
Intel Network Interface Division, Austin Design Center
(512) 407-2135 office
(512) 589-4438 cellular