Carrier Ethernet Deployment

While many companies prefer to outsource their wide area network to a service provider, (which also allows the provider to offer SLAs to their customers) enterprises with mission-critical, time-sensitive data, such as financial institutions, hospitals and insurance companies, can utilize Carrier Ethernet technology for many things, including database backup. This method, which rides in tandem with the shift to server consolidation into data centers, is a cost effective model.

TMC European editor, Bob Emmerson explains, "Managed services have been available for some time and now there is a standard (Y.1731) that enables end-to-end performance and fault management," adding that outsourcing a WAN "is clearly a positive development, but is still a service based on connectivity and the market requirement has moved on."

Carrier Ethernet is shifting into it's next phase of development. Emmerson explains, "The first phase was Layer 2 best-effort connectivity and there was no service awareness. The second phase brought in predictive connectivity as well as VPN services and improved scalability. The third phase, which Alcatel-Lucent is pioneering, is “Application Enabled” Carrier Ethernet. An example of this evolutionary next phase is the ability to assure the quality of the individual applications, i.e. the QoAs. Put another way, end-to-end SLAs for the different applications and services that businesses require could significantly expedite the evolution of managed services. This is an enterprise-centric article, but it is worth noting that the same functionality can be applied to the residential and mobile services, e.g. IPTV and triple/quad play."

Click here to read Emmerson's full story.

To learn more about the Carrier Ethernet model, visit NEF at www.NEFiber.com.