The IEEE has decided to go ahead and form a study group to look into the possibility of standards pertaining to Energy Efficient Ethernet.

Regular readers will recall I wrote about the call for interest in Energy Efficient Ethernet in November. Since then the IEEE took it to the next step, a study group, and the group had its first meeting in mid-January.

At the call for interest, presenters pointed out that LAN desktop-to-switch link utilization is mostly in bursts, and that reducing link rates could save energy. You'd still want a way to increase rates in a hurry if needed.

The purpose of an IEEE study group is to come up with objectives and goals, as well as the "five criteria," which are the justifications for creating a new standard. Once the members of the study group agree on these things, the IEEE decides whether to move forward with a "task force," which would actually start defining any standards.

In other words, the IEEE has determined that there is enough interest in energy-efficient Ethernet, but the purpose and scope of the standards work needs to be nailed down.

The Ethernet Alliance this week issued a press release on the formation of the study group, saying that a standard on energy-efficient Ethernet could save as much as $450 million in energy costs in the United States alone. The release quotes someone at the EPA (yeah, the Environmental Protection Agency) as looking forward to the results. It also quotes Mike Bennett of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, whose networking requirements are so vast that it probably needs a power plant all on its own.

Seriously, though, this is a good thing if they can get it to work. It's off to a good start - it even has its own logo, three green leaves in the shape of e's.

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