Bio: Bob Noseworthy is a Principal Engineer at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). In this role, he advises on and leads various technical development activities within the UNH-IOL’s Testing Services. Bob manages all Ethernet-related and Time Sensitive Networking (TSN)-related Testing Services at UNH-IOL including IBTA's IB and RDMA Integrator List testing, the Avnu Alliance’s Certification, Automotive Networking, Industrial Networking, and IEEE 1588/PTP Test Services. He is also closely involved with the continued evolution of 802.1’s Time Sensitive Networking standards as well as continuously evolving areas such as Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) and 10Mbps to 1.6Tbps Ethernet (T1S, T1L, APL, MGBASE-T1, etc.). His areas of expertise include aligning lab services with current industry trends, business development, test tool development, and physical signal encoding.

Membership Details

Forum: The Open Group SOSA® Consortium

Country: USA

Membership Level:  Academic

Q. How long have you been involved with The Open Group?   

While formally only recently, we have been aware of the activities from the SOSA® Consortium since pre-covid when parties such as Michael Munroe (ELMA) involved with PICMG/ATCA encouraged participation – Covid unfortunately upended some of that potential.

Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it? 

The University of New Hampshire Interoperability Labs (UNH-IOL) has been a part of the networking and data communications industry since 1988.  In that time, we have fostered multi-vendor interoperability while preparing students for careers in the industry. The laboratory has grown steadily into one of the industry's premier independent proving grounds for new technologies.   

Our Mission: To provide a neutral environment to foster interoperability, standards conformance, and development for the interconnected world, while attracting students to and preparing them for careers in cutting-edge technology.

Our Vision:  To create an interoperable world by enabling the best engineers, entrepreneurs, and technology.

I have been involved with the lab since 95, supporting and assisting in the development of all forms of Ethernet and Time Sensitive Networking technologies.

Q. Why did your organization become a Member of The Open Group SOSA Consortium and what does/will your involvement look like? 

UNH-IOL has recently become a Member to support the needs of the SOSA community where it involves high speed communications signalling compliance and interoperability testing, such as for Ethernet signalling from 800Gbps (200Gbps per lane) or slower.

This may lead to UNH-IOL being recognized as a Verification Authority (VA) for the SOSA Consortium effort from The Open Group and at the very least, we expect to be able to assist Members seeking interoperability and conformance testing of their solutions, host plugfests and potentially F2F meetings.

Q. How has/will membership in The Open Group benefit you, your organization, and the industry at large?

We expect to leverage our experience with the validation and performance testing of Ethernet and related high-speed communications technologies to assist the industry at large, including Members of The Open Group, in the validation of their solution. In so doing, we look to membership in The Open Group to benefit the IOL as, if, and when, we are approved as a VA, or at the minimum, as a resource to benefit The Open Group membership at large.

Q. Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?

From my experience, any collection of diverse manufacturers, standards creators, and end users is the right mix to drive interoperable specifications that are adopted and help create markets, while we are new to The Open Group.  

Q. What are your hobbies?

Building and rebuilding decks and other house maintenance seems to be an endless chore.

Q. What book are you currently reading?

Babylon’s Ashes (Book 5 of The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey)

Q. What social networks do you belong to?

None, fortunately – other than LinkedIn

Q. Any last thoughts?

To those reading this, if you’re ever near Boston, Massachusetts, we’re just an hour north, feel free to swing by for a tour and a discussion, or contact us to start a discussion.  https://www.iol.unh.edu/about/contact

Date Published: December 4, 2025