September 5, 2012 – IEEE today announced approval of 802.3-2012 “Standard for ethernet”, which defines wired connectivity for ethernet local area, access and metropolitan area networks.

“When ethernet networking was conceived in the 1970s and the IEEE 802.3 standard was first published in 1985, its founders could not possibly have foreseen the global transformation that their ideas and efforts would ultimately set into motion,” said David Law, chair of the IEEE 802.3 ethernet Working Group and engineer with HP Networking. “The standard has helped spawn whole new business models, industries and ways of life. And that cycle of innovation continues today.”

IEEE 802.3 defines the physical (PHY) and media access control (MAC) layers of ethernet transmission across wired connections of multiple media.

The new IEEE 802.3 revision approved by the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) incorporates various technical updates and enhancements, and consolidates a host of amendments to the base standard that were approved since IEEE 802.3’s last full revision in 2008. Amendments addressing 10 Gbit/s ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs), energy efficiency, extension to 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s speeds while maintaining compatibility with previously installed IEEE 802.3 interfaces, enhanced support for loss-sensitive applications and time synchronization are among those that have been incorporated into IEEE 802.3-2012.

“We see the standard being expanded horizontally to address the specific needs of new markets, such as energy efficiency, in-car networking, data centre networking and content delivery,” added Wael William Diab, vice-chair of the IEEE 802.3 working group, chair of the revision task force and senior technical director at Broadcom.

IEEE 802.3 will be available for purchase at the IEEE Standards Store.