Data Center Bridging Plugfest

In May 2009, the Ethernet Alliance sponsored an interoperability event where eight Ethernet vendors came together at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) for the first of several closed door interoperability test events, also known as “plugfests”. The purpose for this event was to test the interoperability of several Data Center Bridging (DCB) technologies, which are a collection of various standards efforts that are in progress inside of IEEE 802.1™. The purpose of these extensions is to enhance the capabilities of Ethernet and is a part of the many efforts of the Ethernet in the Data Center technologies. The term DCB describes enhancements to the existing Ethernet technology that enables convergence of various applications in data centers (LAN, SAN, and HPC) onto a single interconnect technology. As a subcommittee within the Ethernet Alliance the Ethernet in the Data Center subcommittee focuses on education and testing of Ethernet products in the data center.