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Kevin Vachon, chief operating officer of the Metro Ethernet
Its mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide, and it also conducts certification programmes to enable standardisation and over 100 companies have so far been certified. Standardised MEF Ethernet services are point-to-point E-Line Service used to create virtual private lines (EVPL), Ethernet private lines (EPL) and Ethernet Internet access; multi-point to multi-point E-LAN service used to create multipoint Layer 2 virtual private networks (VPN), transparent LAN service and multicast networks; and its point-to-multipoint E-Tree service use to create rooted multi-point Layer 2 VPNs, broadcast networks and telemetry networks. Currently, 21 service providers across the Asia Pacific are MEF members, including Telekom Malaysia, China Telecom, Globe Telecom, KDDI, NTT, Philippines Long Distance Telephone (PLDT), PT Telekom, Singtel, Starhub, Symphony, telecom New Zealand, Telstra and others. So far, 35 operators worldwide and over 400 equipment from 78 vendors are MEF certified. Vachon highlighted the ratification of Phase 1 of MEF 26, the ENNI (External Network to Network Interface), Ethernet’s growing role in mobile backhaul networks, and the recent launch of the first Ethernet Exchanges, offering a cost-effective alternative to the one-to-one connections between service providers. ENNI basically is a standardised interconnection between different operators' Carrier Ethernet networks and MEF 26 ENNI specifications enables end-to-end delivery of Carrier Ethernet services across networks, while MEF 23 specifies how class of service are alignment between operators' networks. “Among the many business opportunities created by the recently ratified MEF 26 standard, is the opportunity for providers to now offer wholesale services, upgrade their Ethernet offerings to certified Carrier Ethernet networks and interconnect with multiple providers,” said Vachon. “This increases providers’ options as well as delivers obvious savings from the use of standardised connections and processes as opposed to the current lengthy and uneconomical individual interconnect agreements,” Vachon added. ENNI basically is a standardised interconnection between different operators' Carrier Ethernet networks and MEF 26 ENNI specifications enables end-to-end delivery of Carrier Ethernet services across networks, while MEF 23 specifies how class of service are alignment between operators' networks. “Among the many business opportunities created by the recently ratified MEF 26 standard, is the opportunity for providers to now offer wholesale services, upgrade their Ethernet offerings to certified Carrier Ethernet networks and interconnect with multiple providers,” said Vachon. “This increases providers’ options as well as delivers obvious savings from the use of standardised connections and processes as opposed to the current lengthy and uneconomical individual interconnect agreements,” Vachon added. ANNI is absolutely key to the future growth of Carrier Ethernet, according to Michael Howard, Principal Analyst, Carrier and Data Centre Networks, Infonetics Research. As operators increasing migrate to all-packet networks, they are investing heavily in delivering Ethernet services to the customers. The ability to span these services in a timely and economical manner over multiple operator networks is a multi-billion dollar opportunity in waiting. When determining a potential Ethernet Service Provider (ESP) to partner with, operators must understand what Ethernet services the potential ESP offers, the technical details of the ESP’s offerings, business details, for example getting a quotation, how quickly can service be ready/interval, lit building status, and determine the geographic availability.
When ordering they must know what info is needed on the order for the specific service being ordered, including CoS, value-added services and so on, order status and the reasons for rejection of an order. During provisioning, they know the network configuration and how to resolve technical issues.
Carrier Ethernet is now almost universally acknowledged by industry analysts as the only economically viable solution for mobile backhaul as operators struggle to cope with the changing traffic demands created by the migration to Smartphones by both business and consumers. As well as offering lower capital and operating expense, Carrier Ethernet’s scalability allows flexible response to changing traffic demands at mobile sites, as well as architectural scalability to meet future network needs. According to a 2010 Infonetics Research Report, the worldwide average per new installed Ethernet wireline connection grew from around 8 Mb/s in 2005 to around 30 Mb/s now and is expected to grow to around 50 Mb/s in 2013. Over the same period, average bandwidth over legacy Switched Optical Network/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) and Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) connections would grow from around 5 Mb/s to around 10 Mb/s, while average traffic per Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) over PDH connection would grow from around 5 Mb/s to around 15 Mb/s. Also, a study by Nokia Siemens Networks of 19 operators across Europe, the Asia Pacific and the Americas showed 100% year-on-year average growth in daily HSDPA data traffic from October 2006 to July 2009 as operators are rolling out increased capacities over EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, WiMAX and LTE networks. “With this big jump in mobile data traffic, the industry agrees on using Ethernet in the backhaul from base stations,” said Vachon.
Phase 1 of the MEF 22 mobile backhaul solution is an implementation agreement which provides generic specification for Ethernet backhaul architectures for mobile networks (2G, 3G, 4G), User-Network Interface (UNI) requirements, service requirements, clock synchronization, common terminology & standardised toolset.
Phase II comprises a granular focus on new mobile technologies such as LTE (Long Term Evolution), its scope includes performance recommendations, resiliency, sync, detailed SOAM recommendations, Multi-MEN, security and migration models leading to cost efficiencies.
Vachon also highlighted the recent announcement of Carrier Ethernet Exchanges. Implementing the MEF 26 ENNI standard, these exchanges provide Carrier Ethernet interconnection at strategic points in the network enabling multiple virtual connections over a single physical connection.
Ethernet exchanges are considered to be an essential prerequisite for service providers who looking to simply and lower Ethernet service implementation costs and deliver flexibility in scaling their services up or down as required.
The MEF has a website at www.MetroEthernetForum.org Original article from Comm Tech Asia.. Minor corrections (MEF 33 was changed to MEF 23) by the Ethernet Academy. |
MEF highlights Global Interconnect