July 23, 2004 Piscataway, NJ -- The IEEE officially announced last month's approval of IEEE 802.17, "Local and Metropolitan Area Networks-Specific Requirements-Part 17: Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) Access Method & Physical Layer Specifications." The standard defines a network optimized for packet transmission at rates scalable to multiple gigabits per second in resilient ring systems. The standards association also launched the Spatially Aware Bridging Study Group to expand the RPR standard.
RPR is intended to enable fiber-optic rings to carry more data, voice, and video content with greater reliability, efficiency, and economy. In addition to a new media access control (MAC) method, the standard includes physical layer specifications and promotes multi-vendor interoperability. Its potential base of users includes telecommunication carriers, multi-service cable operators, carrier-neutral service providers, data centers, metropolitan facilities-based service providers, municipal and utilities owned networks, and large enterprise networks.
Several system vendors have already incorporated RPR into their offerings and deployed them in carrier networks.
Meanwhile, the IEEE has inaugurated the Spatially Aware Bridging Study Group. The study group will create a project authorization request (PAR) that defines a project to standardize the method of enhancing spatial reuse for bridge clients as an optional sub-layer of the 802.17 MAC. The group will meet from October 4-6 in Ottawa, Canada, to begin the work of determining the scope and requirements of the project and drafting the PAR.
