Datacom products come together at plugfest
Martin Rowe, Senior Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 5/1/2003
Data communications products are useless if they don't communicate with other products designed to meet the same standard. To help designers verify interoperability among like products, organizations run "plugfests," where companies can test their offerings against numerous other products. From a plugfest, engineers learn where their designs need improvement.
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UNH students Matthew Plante (top) and Mike Henninger test a XAUI interface. |
Earlier this year, the IOL's 10GBE Consortium held a plugfest for makers of 10-Gbits/s optical and electrical components. Engineers and students tested the physical signaling and coding characteristics of 10-Gbits/s attachment unit interface (XAUI) devices and verified overall device interoperability. XAUI devices, used for chip-to-chip and board-to-board communications, use four 3.125-Gbits/s channels to deliver 10-Gbits/s of data. Products tested at the plugfest included ICs, connectors, backplanes, cables, and test equipment.
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A SmartBits data generator from Spirent Communications connects to a test band for an interoperability test. |
Interoperability tests increase a manufacturer's confidence that a design will work when connected to numerous other devices. "Member companies come to plugfests to find where their products need improvement" says the lab's 10GEC manager, Bob Noseworthy. "Companies bring products that they've already tested in-house; then they come here to get access to a wide range of other products."
If your company manufactures data-communications products, then the IOL can help you debug your new products. Between plugfests, IOL engineers often work with individual consortium members to debug designs. The lab has many test benches and lots of equipment, often more than any single company will have. So, members bring their products to the IOL for one-on-one testing before attending a plugfest. To learn more about the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab and its services, visit the lab's Web site at www.iol.unh.edu.
