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LXI adopts grandfathering policy
February 15, 2007

The LXI Consortium has established a policy for grandfathering-in equipment designed to earlier versions of the specification for a defined period following release of a new specification revision.

When a new version of an LXI specification is released, it will include the following dates:

• New Version Start (NVS) date—the date when conformance certification to the new version will first be allowed. The NVS date marks the beginning of a transition period where devices can be certified to either the newest version or the previous version. Prior to this date, devices can be certified only to the previous version.

• Previous Version End (PVE) date—the date when the transition period ends. After the PVE date, “new” devices can no longer be certified to the older version of the specification.

The NVS and PVE dates will be part of the specification and, therefore, subject to the balloting process.

Devices that are refreshes of existing devices or new devices built on a platform that conforms to a previous revision can be certified to the older version provided they meet certification requirements by a process known as “technical justification.” For example, if a device uses the same design and code as another product previously tested and certified as conformant, the second device can be certified based on technical justification. Therefore, if a whole family of products is built on the same platform and, therefore, uses the same network hardware and software, only one of them must go through the full conformance testing process at a PlugFest. These situations are not subject to the NVS and PVE dates.

NVS and PVE dates and an explanation will be included in the front matter or first chapter of each specification in a section titled “Effectivity Dates and Grandfathering.”—Paul Franklin, Keithley Instruments, LXI Technical Committee Chair

Posted by Rick Nelson on February 15, 2007 | Comments (0)