Vendors have banded together to form yet another technology alliance, this one focused on Ethernet subscriber access.
The Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance (EFMA) has been conceived to promote Ethernet subscriber access technology and support the IEEE standards effort in this area. EFMA members include Cisco Systems Inc., Elastic Networks Inc., Alloptic Inc., Ericsson Inc., Extreme Networks Inc., Finisar Corp., Intel Corp., NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.) and World Wide Packets Inc.
The EFMA also announced that the IEEE has authorized the formation of the 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) Task Force to develop the technical standard for Ethernet in the first mile. The 802.3ah EFM Task Force is part of the IEEE 802.3 Working Group, which is responsible for the development of all Ethernet-related standards.
The EFMA will contribute technical resources to define EFM specifications and establish multivendor interoperability. EFMA will also promote industry awareness and advancement of the EFM standard, and products supporting the standard.
The group is scheduled to have its first meeting in February 2002.
The formation of the EFMA follows last week's announcement of the Service Availability Forum, and the recent formation of the Resilient Packet Ring Alliance and Metro Ethernet Forum. Conceived and staffed by for-profit vendors and service providers, these forums seek to promote the evolution of technologies that ultimately make their way onto price lists and into saleable products.