Carrier Ethernet Industry Voices

The MEF has been instrumental by initiating and successfully driving formal efforts to define Carrier Ethernet and the services delivered by Service Providers.    Without the five attributes defined by the MEF which distinquish Carrier Ethernet from common LAN-based Ethernet ~ Standardized services, Scalability, Reliability, Quality of Service (QoS) and Service management ~ Service Provider's would likely continue to deploy an infrastructure that  necessitates greater infrastructure, management and expense.   That said, Ethernet services can be carried over SDH/SONET and  IP/MPLS.    In the case of IP/MPLS this is a significant advantage in that Ethernet links can be transported as "pseudowires" using MPLS label switched paths (LSPs) inside an outer MPLS "tunnel".     There is so much more that could be said here...