LCN 2001

The 26th Annual IEEE Conference on
Local Computer Networks (LCN)

Tutorials

Last update: 2 July 2001

Gigabit Ethernet

Presenter: Rich Seifert, Networks and Communications Consulting

As LAN technologies have matured, their use has expanded both in numbers of installations and in the demands placed on them by emerging applications. This has spawned the growth of both the 100 Mb/s Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet systems. This course takes an in-depth technical look at how these technologies may be applied to solve network growth problems, both today and in the future. Particular attention is paid to the details of Gigabit Ethernet, the latest step in the evolution of the world's most popular LAN.

The instructor, a widely-respected consultant to both manufacturers and end-users, is one of the original engineers responsible for the development of commercial Ethernet technology and is co-author of many of the industry standards for LANs and internetworking. He explains both the application and operation of the available options for deploying next-generation LAN systems. Real technical depth is provided in a way possible only from a leader in the standards community with hands-on practical experience designing products that employ these technologies. Emphasis is placed on real-world tradeoffs of cost, product availability and interoperability.

Topics include:

This tutorial is appropriate for network planners and administrators, MIS managers, development engineers, product marketers and support personnel responsible for making decisions regarding the deployment of next-generation LAN equipment. It is not a primer in networking; some familiarity with existing LAN technologies (e.g., Ethernet, Bridging and Routing, etc.) and application environments is assumed.

OUTLINE:

About the speaker: Rich Seifert, M.S.E.E., M.B.A., is President of Networks and Communications Consulting, in Los Gatos, California. Formerly with Digital Equipment Corporation, Mr. Seifert was one of the designers of the commercial 10 Mb/s Ethernet, and author of the original DEC-Intel-Xerox Ethernet specifications. He had broad technical responsibility for all of DEC's LAN products until 1984, when he helped launch Industrial Networking, a manufacturer of factory LAN products. Since 1988, Mr. Seifert has provided consulting services to a wide range of computer and communications systems manufacturers, semiconductor companies and large end users.

He is co-author of the IEEE 802.1, 802.3, 802.4 and 802.3u (Fast Ethernet) standards, was chairman and editor of the IEEE 802.3x Full Duplex/Flow Control standard, was active in the Gigabit Ethernet Task Force, and recently completed editing the IEEE 802.3ad standard for Link Aggregation. His book, Gigabit Ethernet: Technology and Applications for High-Speed LANs, was published by Addison-Wesley in 1998; The Switch Book: The Complete Guide to LAN Switching Technology, was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2000.

Rich's current areas of interest include work on Gigabit Ethernet products, Switching and Routing silicon, DSP-based LAN interfaces, Storage Area Networks, Protocol design, and new network architectures.

Mr. Seifert teaches courses on networking for the University of California, both at Berkeley and Santa Cruz, Oxford University, and many private companies, and has the world's largest collection of outrageous neckties.



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Mobile IPv6

Presenter: Charles Perkins, Nokia Research Center

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