The Physical Medium Attachment (PMA) for 1000BASE-X operation, defined in IEEE 802.3-2008 clause 36, performs the following:
- Serialization (and deserialization) of code-groups for transmission (and reception) on the underlying serial Physical Medium Dependent (PMD)
- Recovery of the clock from the 8B/10B-coded data supplied by the PMD
- 2500BASE-X PMA operation is similar to 1000BASE-X operation as defined in IEEE 802.3-2008, clauses 36
The device-specific transceivers provide the serial interface required to connect the PMD.