Ethernet is about to enter the domain of data center and high performance computing by introducing several performance optimizations that will close the performance and functionality gap between Ethernet and its fiercest competitioner InfiniBand. Through the Data Center Bridging Task Group the IEEE is about to expand the 802.1 standard with four new supplements that will both close the performance gap and make the converged network a reality. In a converged network all applications use a single physical infrastructure, e.g. Ethernet or InfiniBand. This is ideal for the next generation of data centers that are now emerging. In this paper we discuss the architectural challenges faced by Ethernet in order to improve performance and make the converged network a reality, and we present the Ethernet enhancements currently being standardized by the IEEE.