This seems to me like a dumb question, but I don't know what the answer is...
We are building a product using the LPC2368 (which has a MAC) & a Micrel KSZ8721 (PHY). As part of the prototype programming effort, I include a random MAC address in software as part of an init sequence.
When this goes onto other networks, the MAC addresses have a chance to collide w/ *real* ones. It seems to me that NXP should provide the MAC addess pool since they provide the MAC, but that's probably not true.
Do we need to go to the IEEE & purchase our own OUI?
Looks like the IEEE want to protect their monopoly on expensive numbers - from their FAQ :
Can I resell or distribute a segment of the OUI after I obtain it?
No. A parent company and a subsidiary company can share an OUI and if a company is sold, the OUI may be transferred to the new company. However, the OUI cannot be sold or distributed by anyone other than IEEE.
I wonder what lawyers would say to this. After all you can sell devices with a number from your OUI to customers. So maybe you could sell a piece of paper as a "device" with some numbers written on it? :-)
--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
The IEEE seems to distinguishes between number ownership and assignment. But maybe the OUI owner could sell a company permission to use a portion of the numbers. But I couldn't find any terms&conditions related to this, not even on the application form...
--
Gemaakt met Opera's revolutionaire e-mailprogramma:
http://www.opera.com/mail/
Check the Wikipedia MAC_address article. The MAC standard calls for a rather large block of locally-administered addresses. In an emergency you could use those. Then, in the long run, it would be your customer's look-out.
The terms from the VID application form are pretty clear:
"The company set forth above hereby applies for a USB Vendor ID Number and agrees to the following: The USB Implementers Forum is the authority which assigns and maintains all USB Vendor ID Numbers. Each Vendor ID Number is assigned to one company for its sole and exclusive use, along with associated Product ID Numbers. They may not be sold, transferred, or used by others, directly or indirectly, except in special circumstances and then only upon prior written approval by USB-IF. Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited."
The key here is "Each Vendor ID Number is assigned to one company for its sole and exclusive use, along with associated Product ID Numbers" and "They may not be sold...", they being the VID and associated PID.
I wonder if usb.org added the "along with associated Product ID Numbers" after the fact when they saw what he was doing. If this was the original wording when he applied for the VID then the right to use the "sold" PIDs is probably questionable since he did not have the right to sell them in the first place.
Might be able to license the VID/PID pairs as long as there was no transfer of owner ship. Legal mumbo jumbo word games come into play.
Too bad. I guess I'll have to fork over 2 grand....
I think the idea of VID/PID is very wrong. For my devices I plan to use just one of my ids and then distinguish the devices by the Manufacturer and Product descriptor strings.
--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
I've done this several times. Unless you are *really* financially constrained, just go to IEEE and get a IAB or full OUI. The cost is minimal compared to development cost trying to hack something together or pull mac addresses from old cards. You could probably look around and find the addresses for some old DEC or 3Com 10base2 cards but you will quickly burn up more than $550 or $1600 bucks worth of time.
What ever you do, remember you are going to have to have manufacturing procedures in place to assign the unique numbers to the products.
Rather not. I think it's pretty clear from the description that "locally administered" addresses can never be used for devices sold to others, because they are then no longer locally administered by you.
One method is to use a locally assigned prefix and use something like a DS2401 serial number chip for the lower bytes. Since MAC addresses are only local to a subnet, the chances of a collision are pretty close to nil. More info at
Interesting exchange of letters. Looks like they have added a FAQ section, that it is not allowed to sell the MACs.
I wonder if it would be possible to program a cheap EEPROM, like this one for $0.19 (for 100 units):
formatting link
?name=24AA00-I/SN-ND
with a MAC and then sell the chips. This would be even a good idea for production, because then you don't have to manage the MAC addresses by yourself, but you simply put the pre-programmed chip on your board (if the flash content survives the soldering process). Would be the same as if you buy an ethernet card and plug it in your PC, but at a smaller scale.
--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
Maxim has a device specifically for MAC addresses. It is one of the
1-Wire devices, which has a legal MAC address stored in the device. It is the DS2502-E48 AFAICR. For small runs, this is quite handy. It helps a lot from the logistics point of view as well, since one does not need a step to program a legal adress into an EEPROM or something for each PCB.
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.