Networking in Focus: Gigabit Ethernet comes of age

Gigabit Ethernet will once again be one of the hot topics at the Networks Telecom 99 show, just as it has been for some years. So why has it taken so long to achieve mass market penetration - and is now the right moment to go with the technology?

It's hardly a new kid on the block. For example, UK TV news broadcaster, ITN, looked at Gigabit Ethernet when it decided to replace its mainframe/green screen system with a PC-based network several years ago. Although Gigabit Ethernet was available, the organisation felt that the standards weren't in place. Keith Cass, head of IT at ITN, explained in a video interview published recently on Silicon.com that ATM was the only viable solution (see the Fast Networking Channel).

The time it takes to develop standards is not unique to Gigabit Ethernet, partly because there are often vested interests at work on the standards bodies. According to Eric Thickett, managing director of systems integrator MiTech, these organisations are often funded by companies that want their own technologies to be the basis of any agreed standard.

"The reps that work on these bodies are put there by companies and are paid by these companies," he said. "No matter how independent [the bodies] may be, these companies want to standardise on their own technology to gain an advantage over other manufacturers."

However, after a 10 year struggle, the standards debate is more or less over - although that doesn't solve that other age-old problem of timing. Can users really be sure that if they go with today's Ethernet technology, there won't be something bigger, better and cheaper around the corner?

But you have to bite the bullet at some point, as Peter Crowcombe, sector director at analyst and research house, Spikes Cavell, pointed out. "Technologies get into a state which is market-ready and then the next one comes along and users tend to think: 'Let's wait'. They could then end up waiting for ever."

MiTech has deployed Gigabit Ethernet on its own network, and Thickett for one was unwilling to prevaricate. "We wanted the network to run as fast as possible, " he said. "Why muck around?"

If you do decide that the time is right, there are other issues which need to be addressed, one of which is your company's cabling infrastructure. If the installation is not up to scratch, your network will fail. "Around 80 per cent of companies that switch to Gigabit Ethernet on Cat 5 cabling will see it fail," claimed Thickett.

The reason is not the cabling itself, but poor installation. He explained that anyone who wears a Polo T-shirt and owns a van could be called a 'cabling specialist', advising companies to check their infrastructure carefully before making any decisions about networking protocols.

However, Gigabit Ethernet is not the only fast networking protocol touted as the answer to bandwidth problems: there's ATM, as the ITN case study - to be found in Silicon's Fast Networking Channel - proves. But some industry players - albeit those with vested interests - believe its days are numbered.

Bernard Daines, founder and CEO of Ethernet specialist World Wide Packets, believes that the uptake of Gigabit Ethernet is now more than 50 per cent higher than that of ATM. He points to figures which show an uptake of 334,000 Ethernet ports in the last quarter, compared with just 200,000 for ATM.

"ATM is a dead technology," said Daines. Forget about waiting to see if ATM will become dominant - go with Ethernet technology and nothing else, is his advise.

ATM may well provide the bandwidth required for multimedia environments and is highly suitable for some applications, but with Gigabit Ethernet, there's one fat pipe for everything: it is capable of handling high levels of network activity, whether the installation is in a hospital or a call centre, or used to underpin CAD/CAM applications.

However, Gigabit Ethernet's 'killer app' hasn't really arrived - until now, according to some industry experts. Andy Mulholland, technical markets director at Cap Gemini, said: "What's missing is someone to come along and say, 'That's the answer to my problem.' The one area that this would be appropriate for is in the storage area network (SAN) market."

So the standards are there, and the need is there. Some claim that the technology's future is very bright: Daines even believes the Internet will become a full Ethernet system before long.

Where bandwidth is a real issue, Gigabit Ethernet can provide the capacity to deal with what's thrown at it, and, as shown by the recent uptake, it is no longer a solution looking for a problem.