NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Oct. 9 --Carrier class Ethernet services took a major step forward this month with the ratification of the industry's first Ethernet service standard, said the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), which developed the standard. It said the new standard -- MEF Technical Specification, Ethernet Services Model Phase 1 -- is a significant advance in Ethernet's 30-year history.
The 70-member MEF promotes the adoption of Ethernet in metro networks.
"This is the first formal definition of Ethernet service capabilities and marks Ethernet's inexorable progress from a local area network connectivity technology to a robust metropolitan and wide area network services delivery technology," the group said in a statement.
"Network architects should take note," said MEF President Nan Chen. "The drive for the acceleration of the adoption of metro Ethernet has achieved significant momentum."
This is an element of the MEF's phased plan to deliver carrier class Ethernet. The plan includes MEF-based services coexisting with proprietary and legacy management systems in deployed networks. The new specification will be accompanied toward the end of this year with a companion services definitions specification.
The MEF said many major analysts groups are predicting a surge of investment in metro Ethernet -- currently estimated at $14 billion in Ethernet-delivered services (source: Gartner Group) and $4.4 billion in equipment revenues (Infonetics Research) by 2005. The MEF has surveyed the service provider community and said it found over 50 providers are offering or are in the midst of rolling out Ethernet-delivered services.
"This new standard provides the conceptual tools to assist these service providers in modelling point-to-point and multipoint-to-multipoint Ethernet services through a standard framework of service attributes and parameters," the group said.
For more information, visit: www.metroethernetforum.org