I have had the pleasure of working on an Ethernet-over-VDSL prototype at Alcatel Bell during the period in which the foundations of the Ethernet in the First Mile standard were being laid in the IEEE 802.3ah Task Force. This has been a very rewarding experience, thanks to team members Thierry Pollet, Piet Vandaele, Eric Borghs, Jeroen Jacobs (now with Niko), and Adrian Mihanta (now with Siemens VDO). The prototype was successfully demonstrated at the EFM Alliance demo event in San Francisco in July 2003.

I am also grateful to colleagues Tom Van Caenegem, Fran ois Fredricx, Tim Gyselings, Edwin Ringoot, and Duane Remein for helping me discover the intricacies of (E)PON, and to Erwin Six and Jeanne De Jaegher (now with D.G. Information Society and Media of the European Commission) for our countless discussions about network architecture issues. Alcatel s xDSL standards experts Sigurd Schelstraete (now with Ikanos), Danny Van Bruyssel, Frank Van der Putten, J. Lane Moss, Frank Ploumen, Peter Reusens (now with LEA), and Jan Verlinden have shared valuable insights in xDSL standardization with me.

I have been able to find my way around IEEE Working Group 802.3, thanks to the guidance and the experience of Daun Langston, Thomas Dineen, Tom Mathey, and many others. The members of the IEEE 802.3ah Task Force management and editorial team have helped me understand the process and make my contribution as effective as possible. I have shared many memorable moments with the representatives of other VDSL Alliance companies during our efforts to get...