The Ethernet standards group developed a new speed so fast it had to change its name

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The standards body formerly known as the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium announced a new 800 GbE specification.

(Image credit: Pixabay)

As the demand for streaming video and cloud-based gaming grows, the Ethernet Technology Consortium has announced a new 800 gigabit Ethernet standard, and in the process had to rebrand itself.

Up to this point, the standards body had been calling itself the 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium. It was originally established to develop 25, 50, and 100 Gbps Ethernet specifications, and has now changed its name "in order to reflect a new focus on higher-speed Ethernet technologies." The first of those is 800 GbE.

The new specification is actually rooted in the 400 GbE standard, and essentially re-purposes it with a few modifications to essentially double the speed. It's sort of like taking an existing highway and doubling the number of lanes to fit twice the traffic.

Paul Lilly
Paul Lilly

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD"*",8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).