# SATURN Development Group

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The '''SATURN Development Group''' was an important [industry forum](/source/industry_forum) that enabled the specification of [chip-to-chip interface](/source/chip-to-chip_interface)s for the communications industry.  It was co-founded in 1992 by [PMC-Sierra](/source/PMC-Sierra) and [Sun Microsystems](/source/Sun_Microsystems).  Several significant specifications were completed through its actions including PL-2, [PL-3](/source/PL-3), and [PL-4](/source/PL-4).  Many important semiconductor devices were developed to these specifications.  SATURN was also influential in the specification of the [ATM Forum](/source/ATM_Forum)'s physical layer "UTOPIA" standards.

Initial members included [SynOptics](/source/SynOptics) and [Interphase](/source/Interphase).  The first meeting was held in April 1992. By August 1993, the SATURN group had 28 members.

After the formation of the [Optical Internetworking Forum](/source/Optical_Internetworking_Forum) (OIF), two of the SATURN group's interfaces were successfully adopted by OIF.  The [PL-3](/source/PL-3) specification became [SPI-3](/source/SPI-3) and the [PL-4](/source/PL-4) specification became [SPI-4.2](/source/SPI-4.2).  The existence of the OIF also eliminated the need for the SATURN Development Group, and it was wound down around 2002.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20001218094200/http://www.cs-ipv6.lancs.ac.uk/ipv6/mail-archive/Cell-Relay/1993-09/0041.html Early history of SATURN]
* [http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=4561&site=lightreading Light Reading article on PL-4]
* [http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?site=lightreading&doc_id=4849&page_number=8 Light Reading article on PL-5]

Category:Technology consortia

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [SATURN Development Group](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATURN_Development_Group) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATURN_Development_Group?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.