Ethernet has moved out of the original LAN space and into the access and metro. With
investments in Ethernet-enabled equipment and the expanding offerings of Ethernet
services, service providers are now pushing manufacturers to develop the capabilities
for Ethernet to be a viable transport for metro and long-haul networks. Many protocol
efforts are underway to achieve this end, such as packet backbone transport (PBT) and
transport MPLS (T-MPLS). With the development of a solid Ethernet transport, service
providers will be able to design their next generation networks more simply, without a
SONET/SDH layer, to reach the long-term goal of IP/Ethernet over optical networks.
Ethernet Service Providers and Their Offerings
Two major drivers have combined to propel the range of Ethernet service offerings and
the provider??™s ability to offer them:
?– Corporations and organizations are demanding Ethernet services, with the expectation
of lower prices per bit to satisfy growing network capacity needs.
?– In the face of fast growing data traffic, which has outstripped voice traffic, the old
paradigm of transporting data traffic on networks designed for voice traffic is no
longer valid; service providers are in the midst of adapting their often multiple
data networks to a new generation data network designed to also handle voice,
while supporting various forms of video traffic.
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