TABLE OF CONTENTS Along with its foray into the metro arena where it supports enterprise transport, Ethernet is also being seriously considered as a consumer technology for Internet access. It may even mirror DSL deployments at some point in the future, where both voice and data will traverse one Ethernet connection to the nearest serving wire center (SWC). Several of these Ethernet-based access technologies are discussed here.
The IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) Task Force was created on November 9, 2001. They are the responsible for developing the topology and PHY layer standards for the use of Ethernet in the subscriber access network. The standards-setting process has a goal of delivering an approved standard by September 2003. Currently, the IEEE 802.3ah EFM Study Group has the following objectives:
Support subscriber access network topologies.
Provide a family of PHY layer specifications.
Support far-end OAM for subscriber access networks.
Access network topologies to be developed include point-to-multipoint connectivity on optical fiber, point-to-point connectivity on optical fiber, and point-to-point connectivity on copper cable.
PHY layer specifications include 1000BaseX (extended temperature range optics), which has a targeted range of 10 km over a single SMF. Also targeted for development is a PHY layer standard for passive optical networks (PONs), which is also for distances greater than or equal to 10 km (~6 miles). Gigabit connections over SMF from 1 to 16 km are also under...
