If it is to achieve
the success and dominance of its LAN variant, it has to not only incorporate these lessons
rapidly in terms of new value-added features, but also standardize them.
Standardization of Carrier Ethernet is thus a key approach to enabling and, in fact,
accelerating the deployment of Carrier Ethernet services.
Standards Bodies
There are several standard bodies that are involved, to varying degrees, in enabling
Carrier Ethernet. These include the IEEE (primarily the 802 body), the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),
the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), and to a lesser degree, others such as the Tele
Management Forum (TMF).
While the involvement of several bodies working in the same area may appear to be
at cross purposes or at best, partially redundant and with the potential to introduce
confusion, the reality has been different. These bodies have been??”and are??”working
with a largely complementary focus, and where there has been some overlap, there has
also been significant collaboration, with the net result actually expediting standardization
efforts.
The IETF has traditionally had an IT orientation, while the ITU has focused on
developing international standards to support the needs of national Service Providers
(known as PTTs in most countries).
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