2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T

IEEE 802.3bz, NBASE-T and MGBASE-T refer to efforts to produce a standard for Ethernet over twisted pair copper wire at speeds of 2.5 Gbit/s and 5 Gbit/s. This would create intermediate speeds between existing standards Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The resulting standards are named 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T.[1][2][3]

IEEE 802.3bz

IEEE 802.3's "2.5G/5GBASE-T Task Force" started working on the 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T standards in March 2015.[4]

On September 23, 2016, The IEEE-SA Standards Board approved IEEE Std 802.3bz-2016.[5]

The IEEE Standard 802.3bz defines:[6]

Technology

The physical (PHY) layer transmission technology of IEEE 802.3bz is based on 10GBASE-T, but operates at a lower signaling rate. By reducing the original signal rate to  1⁄4 or  1⁄2, the transfer rate drops to 2.5 or 5 Gbit/s, respectively.[7] The spectral bandwidth of the signal is reduced accordingly, lowering the requirements on the cabling, so that 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T can be deployed at a cable length of 100 m on unshielded Cat 5e and Cat 6 twisted-pair cables, respectively.[8]

Power over Ethernet

Unlike the preceding 10GBASE-T standard, equipment manufacturers have indicated their intention to implement 802.3at type Power over Ethernet on certain types of NBASE-T switches. This implementation is intended to support high-bandwidth wireless access points (802.11ac / 802.11ax) which exceed the speed capabilities of existing 1000BASE-T Power over Ethernet connections.[9]

Comparison of twisted pair based ethernet technologies

Standard Transfer speed[lower-alpha 1] Channels per
direction[lower-alpha 2] 		Bits per hertz
per channel[lower-alpha 3]		 Spectral
bandwidth[lower-alpha 4] 		Cable req.
100 m[lower-alpha 5] 		Cable spec
100 m
10BASE-T 10 Mbit/s 1 1 10 MHz Cat 3 16 MHz
100BASE-TX 100 Mbit/s 1 3.2 31.25 MHz Cat 5 100 MHz
1000BASE-T 1000 Mbit/s 4 4 62.5 MHz Cat 5e 100 MHz
2.5GBASE-T 2500 Mbit/s 4 6.25 100 MHz Cat 5e 100 MHz
5GBASE-T 5000 Mbit/s 4 6.25 200 MHz Cat 6 250 MHz
10GBASE-T 10000 Mbit/s 4 6.25 400 MHz Cat 6A 500 MHz
25GBASE-T 25000 Mbit/s 4 6.25 1000 MHz Cat 8 (30 m) 1600/2000 MHz
40GBASE-T 40000 Mbit/s 4 6.25 1600 MHz Cat 8 (30 m) 1600/2000 MHz
  1. ↑ Transfer speed = channels × bits per hertz × spectral bandwidth
  2. ↑ On 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX one twisted pair of the cabling is used for transmission and another for reception, leaving two unused pairs. Highers speeds use all four pairs simultaneously for transmission (TX) and reception (RX).
  3. ↑ Effective bits per hertz after loss to encoding overhead.
  4. ↑ The spectral bandwidth is the maximum rate at which the signal will complete one hertz cycle. It is typical half the symbol rate, because one can send a symbol both at the positive and negative peak of the cycle. Exceptions are 10BASE-T where it is equal because it uses Manchester code, and 100BASE-TX where it is one quarter because it uses MLT-3 encoding.
  5. ↑ At shorter cable length, it is possible to use cables of a lower grade than that is required for 100 m. For example it is possible to use 10GBASE-T on a Cat 6 cable of 55 m or less. Likewise 5GBASE-T is expected to work with Cat 5e in most use cases.

History

The intermediate speeds became relevant around 2014 as it became clear that it would not be possible to run 10GBASE-T over the Cat5e cable that had been used for the wiring in many buildings but that, with the development of fast WiFi protocols such as IEEE 802.11ac, there was a significant demand for cheap uplink faster than 1000BASE-T offered. IEEE 802.3bz will also support Power over Ethernet, which has generally not been available at 10GBASE-T.

As early as 2013 the Intel Avoton server processors integrated 2.5 Gbit/s Ethernet ports.

Whilst Broadcom had announced a series of 2.5 Gbit/s transceiver ICs,[10] 2.5 Gbit/s switch hardware was not widely commercially available at that point; 10GBASE-T switches do not generally support the intermediate speeds.

In October 2014 the NBASE-T Alliance was founded,[11] initially comprising Cisco, Aquantia, Freescale and Xilinx. By May 2015 [12] it had expanded to 34 members covering most producers of networking hardware.

The competing MGBASE-T Alliance, stating the same faster Gigabit Ethernet objectives, was founded in December 2014.[13] In contrast to NBASE-T, the MGBASE-T says that their specifications will be open source.[14]

With the forming of the IEEE 802.3bz draft standard under the patronage of the Ethernet Alliance in June 2015, the two NBASE-T and MGBASE-T Alliances are forced to collaborate.[15]

NBASE-T

The NBASE-T Alliance was founded in 2014 by Aquantia Corporation, Cisco Systems, Freescale Semiconductor and Xilinx.[16] It now consists of more than 45 companies, and aims to have their specification compatible with 802.3bz.[17]

References

External links

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