The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) reported progress on key issues following its latest quarterly meeting in San Diego last week. Key developments include:
- the creation of a new Physical Layer User Working Group to bring equipment manufacturers and system vendors together in a collective environment to provide technical advice and perspective to the Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Working Group. The new group will develop requirements and guidelines for components, modules, subsystems, and communication links used in networking equipment, providing common direction to the PLL vendor community and other OIF working groups.
- the OIF's Architecture Working Group and the Signaling Working Group have merged into a single entity. The combined Architecture and Signaling Working Group will continue to focus on network architectures and signaling protocols for optical internetworking and will be chaired by Jim Jones, Alcatel.
- the PLL Working Group announced a new project to address tunable laser technology. The Small Form Factor Integratable Tunable Laser Assembly Multi Source Agreement (MSA) will reflect the industry's push to reduce size and power.
