X3T10.1 Minutes May 17, 1994

Tue Jul 12 22:21:17 PDT 1994

Minutes of X3T10.1 Plenary Meeting #3, May 17, 1994, in Harrisburg, PA
X3T10.1/94-021r0
July 12, 1994                                    Page 7 of 6
Document: X3T10.1/94-021r0
Date:     July 12, 1994
To:       Membership of X3T10.1
From:     Edward A. Gardner, Acting Vice-Chair X3T10.1
Subject:  Minutes of X3T10.1 Plenary Meeting #3, May 17, 1994, in
          Harrisburg, PA

                                Agenda

1. Opening Remarks
 1.1 X3 Call for Officers for X3T10.1

2. Attendance and Introductions

3. Approval of Agenda

4. Announcement of Minutes Delay

5. Document Distribution

6. Call for Patents

7. Review of Old Action Items

8. Subgroup and/or Project Status Reports
 8.1 Low Level Interface Working Group (94-019r0) [Ham]

9. Liaison Reports
 9.1 SFF (94-010r1) [Scheible]

10. New Business
 10.1 Option Block Description Discussion (94-015r0) [Scheible]
 10.2 Unitized Connector Testing Results (94-018r0) [Scheible]
 10.3 Return Address Checking [Finch]
 10.4 Responsibility for SSA-SSP
 10.5 Comments on Proposed Base Document for SSP (94-023r0) [Finch]

11. Review of Action Items

12. Meeting Schedule
 12.1 Authorization of Working Group Meetings

13. Adjournment

                          Results of Meeting

1.   Opening Remarks

John Scheible, the Acting Chair, called the meeting to order at 9:00
AM, Tuesday, May 17, 1994. He thanked Chuck Brill of AMP, Inc. for
arranging and hosting the meeting. John announced that he had
transferred to IBM's Technical Marketing Support organization and in
the future should be contacted at:

Mr. John Scheible         Telephone: 512 823-8208

  IBM Corporation                 Fax: 512 825-0758
  Building 815 Mailstop 4051    Email: scheible at vnet.ibm.com
  11400 Burnet Road
  Austin, TX  78758

1.1  X3 Call for Officers for X3T10.1

John announced that Skip Jones of QLogic was unable to serve as
X3T10.1 Chair, and that he (John Scheible) was willing to serve as
Chair if a Vice-Chair could be found. When noone else volunteered, Ed
Gardner of Digital stated his reluctant willingness to serve as Vice-
Chair. Anyone interested in serving as an officer for X3T10.1 should
contact John.

2.   Attendance and Introductions

The membership requirements were reviewd. X3 rules permit one vote per
organization. An individual from a new organization must attend two
out of three consecutive plenary meetings. He/she may apply for voting
membership at the second meeting via a letter to the Chair of X3T10.1.
The individual may vote at the second plenary meeting. Working group
meetings do not count toward attendance requirements.

Conner Peripherals Inc. joined the committee with Ed Carmona as voting
representative. Several other membership forms were received, however
all were from organizations that were already members of X3T10.1.

The following people attended this meeting:

Name               Status     Organization
Norm Harris        Principal  Adaptec
Charles Brill      Principal  Amp Inc.
Bob Whiteman       Alternate  Amp Inc.
Ian Morrell        Principal  Circuit Assembly Corp.
Ed Carmona         Alternate  Conner Peripherals, Inc
Ken Smith          Observer   Conner Peripherals, Inc
Edward A. Gardner  Principal  Digital Equipment Corporation
Bill Ham           Alternate  Digital Equipment Corporation
Charles Monia      Visitor    Digital Equipment Corporation
Mark Hamel         Principal  EMC Corporation
Brian Mullahy      Alternate  EMC Corporation
Milt Scritsmier    Observer   EMC Corporation
Ken Hallam         Principal  ENDL
Bert Christy       Visitor    Escod Industries
Colm Tracey        Visitor    Fujikura
Kevin Pokorney     Alternate  Fujitsu Computer Products of America
Mike Chenery       Visitor    Fujitsu Computer Products of America
Jeff Williams      Visitor    Hewlett-Packard Corporation
Sam Karunanithi    Alternate  Hitachi Computer Products
Nancy Cheng        Observer   Hitachi Computer Products
John Scheible      Principal  IBM Corporation
Ken Cummings       Visitor    IBM Corporation
Chuck Grant        Alternate  Madison Cable
Ken Erickson       Principal  Micropolis
John Lohmeyer      Principal  NCR Microelectronics / AT&T
Greg Kapraun       Alternate  NCR Microelectronics / AT&T
Herb Silverman     Principal  Peer Protocols, Inc
Skip Jones         Principal  QLogic
Stephen Finch      Principal  Silicon Systems
David Deming       Principal  Solution Technology
Thai Nguyen        Principal  Storage Technology Corporation
Gerald Root        Visitor    Volex Interconnect Systems
Tak Asami          Principal  Western Digital
The X3T10.1 membership is presently 25 organizations. Enclosure (1) is
the current X3T10.1 membership list.

3.   Approval of Agenda

Originally two separate meetings had been scheduled, an X3T10.1
plenary followed by an X3T10 authorized working group dealing with SSA-
SSP. Subsequently X3T10 voted to assign SSA-SSP to X3T10.1, which
combined the two meetings into one. The proposed agenda of the two
meetings were merged.

4.   Announcement of Minutes Delay

John Scheible announced that his notebook PC had been stolen
subsequent to the previous meeting (March 15 in Newport Beach, CA).
The only copy of the draft minutes from that meeting were on the PC
when it was stolen. John did not know when (if ever) the minutes from
that meeting could be regenerated.

5.   Document Distribution
6.   Call for Patents
7.   Review of Old Action Items

  1.IBM Patent Policy [Scheible]. Carry over. John Scheible reported
     that IBM's legal department has given him a contact name but no
     policy yet.

  2.Hold a Transceiver Documentation Study Group [Ham]. Complete. See
     agenda item 8.1.

  3.Distribute the Paper on the SAT Algorithm [Hawes]. Complete. See
     document 94-022r0.

  4.Generate an Option Block Description [Scheible]. Complete. See
     agenda item 10.1.

  5.Generate a PCI subclass ID [Hawes]. Carry over.

  6.Report on Internal Cable Impedance [Hawes]. Carry over.

  7.SSA-PH Conversion to Standard Word Processor [Gardner]. Carry
     over.

8.   Subgroup and/or Project Status Reports

8.1  Low Level Interface Working Group (94-019r0) [Ham]

Bill Ham presented the results of the Low Level Interface Working
Group (previously known as the Transceiver Study Group). The group has
identified the general categories of what needs to be specified and a
testing strategy for characterizing existing implementations.

Several action items requiring cooperation from IBM Havant were
identified, specifically termination resistor AC properties, jitter
specification, line fault detection timing, and generally obtaining
access to a transceiver and serializer/deserializer expert. John
Scheible was asked to obtain the necessary cooperation.

Ed Gardner moved and Tak Asami seconded to accept the working group's
recommendation to remove ESD protection requirements from SSA-PH. The
motion passed 8 in favor, none opposed.

Steve Finch initiated a discussion of termination voltage tolerances.
The termination voltage tolerance is specified as 3.3 volts 110%.
However, if one side of the differential line is terminated to 3.3
volts +10% while the other is terminated to 3.3 volts - 10%, the
termination voltage tolerance would overwhelm the differential signal.
There was unanimous concent that this was not the intent of the 110%
tolerance specification and the editor should revise the wording to
clarify this.

John Scheible initiated a discussion of cable length limits. The
primary limit on cable lengths in attenuation, not cable length or
propagation delay per se. The actual length limit will vary with cable
construction and cost. The concensus was that the specification's
introduction should describe the length achievable with high quality
yet non-exotic cables, which lab data indicates is approximately 40
meters. The remainder of the specification will discuss attenuation,
etc. and not mention lengths.

9.   Liaison Reports

9.1  SFF (94-010r1) [Scheible]

John Scheible provided updated minutes of the February 15, 1994
Connector/Form Factor SWIG.

10.  New Business

10.1 Option Block Description Discussion (94-015r0) [Scheible]

John Scheible present his proposed option pin assigments for the
unitized connector. While some were non-controversial, the vendor
unique pins elicited considerable discussion. Several members
contended that the vendor unique pins should either be reserved or
have their function defined by the standard. John stated that he had a
customer that required that these pins be vendor unique. He was asked
their function so that could be included in the standard. John stated
he was not permitted to describe their function. None of this was
greated sympathetically. John was asked to bring his customer to the
May meeting and otherwise be prepared to defend the requirement for
vendor unique pins, as the predominent sentiment was to make them
reserved.

10.2 Unitized Connector Testing Results (94-018r0) [Scheible]

John Scheible shared IBM's early testing results with the unitized
connector.

10.3 Return Address Checking [Finch]

Steve Finch's SSA reflector message "Problem with uniquely identifying
hosts" was discussed. Steve concluded "I either heard a lot of apathy,
or agreement I should persue it. I intend to persue it."

10.4 Responsibility for SSA-SSP

Our parent committee, X3T10, had voted to assign the SSA-SSP project,
when approved, to X3T10.1. Steve Finch moved and Tak Asami seconded
that the Chair be directed to inform X3T10 that X3T10.1 is willing and
able to take on the SSA-SSP project. The motion passed 12 in favor,
none opposed.

10.5 Comments on Proposed Base Document for SSP (94-023r0) [Finch]

Item 1 proposed expanding SSA-SSP to address both SCSI-2 and SCSI-3.
Discussion centered on the need for the SCSI-2 mapping to be stable,
which may not be possible for SCSI-3, combined with the strong desire
of some parties that the SCSI-2 mapping be maintained by an accredited
standards organization. It is presently maintained by SSA-UIG, an
industry group. This led to discussion of the X3T10.1 taking over
responsibility for the SCSI-2 mapping as a separate Technical Report.
Technical Reports have simpler and quicker approval requirements
compared with Standards. Steve Finch moved and Ed Gardner seconded
that X3T10.1 prepare a project proposal for the SSA-SCSI-2 protocol
specification, to be published as a Technical Report. The motion
passed 12 in favor, none opposed. Steve Finch offerred to prepare the
project proposal.

The remaining items demonstrated problems with the current
specifications, primarily resulting from poor layering and inadequate
separation between SSA-PH and SSA-SSP. No action was taken.

11.  Review of Action Items

  1.IBM Patent Policy [Scheible].

  5.Generate a PCI subclass ID [Hawes].

  6.Report on Internal Cable Impedance [Hawes].

  7.SSA-PH Conversion to Standard Word Processor [Gardner].

  8.Ask IBM Havant for termination resistor AC property requirements
     [Scheible].

  9.Ask IBM Havant for timing parameters for line fault detection
     [Scheible].

  10.    Ask IBM Havant to send a transceiver cell expert to the July
     meeting [Scheible].

  11.    Prepare SD3 for SSA-SCSI-2 [Finch].

12.  Meeting Schedule

The next plenary meeting of X3T10.1 will be July 19, 1994, in Bedford,
NH, at the Sheraton Tara Wayfarer Inn (603 622-3766), hosted by
Digital Equipment Corporation. The meeting will begin at 9:00 AM on
Tuesday.

A Low Level Interface Working Group (formerly known as Transceiver
Study Group) meeting is planned for June 28, 1994 in Irvine,
California. Contact Bill Ham or Tak Asami for further details. A
second Low Level Interface Working Group meeting is planned for July
18, 1994, in Bedford, NH, the day preceeding and at the same location
as the next plenary. Contact Bill Ham for details.

The long-term X3T10.1 meeting schedule is:
Date                Location              Host / Comments
July 19, 1994       Bedford, NH           Digital Equipment Corp.
September 13, 1994  Houston, TX           Compaq
November 8, 1994    Palm Springs, CA      Western Digital
January 9, 1995     Lake Tahoe, NV        SSI
March 6, 1995       Newport Beach, CA     QLogic
May 8, 1995         Harrisburg, PA        AMP
July 10, 1995       Colorado Springs, CO  AT&T/NCR Microelectronics
September 11, 1995  Manchester, NH        Digital Equipment Corp.
November 6, 1995    Southern CA           Western Digital

12.1 Authorization of Working Group Meetings

The above mentioned X3T10.1 working group meetings were approved
unanimously.

13.  Adjournment