Ethernet currently makes up a small portion of the millions of WAN connections in
the world. WAN connections are primarily T1/E1/J1 and T3/E3/J3 (including private
lines, Frame Relay, and ATM), SONET/SDH, and WDM; these connections are moving
to Ethernet rather rapidly, but remain the minority. Over the next five years, however,
a growing portion will move to Ethernet-based services.
The second major driver is that service providers worldwide are moving to simplify
their networks, while at the same time moving to the new model of a data services layer
over an optical transport layer. Due to the gravitas of IP in the Internet, Ethernet in
business buildings, and Ethernet built in to computers and installed in homes, Ethernet
and IP are the lingua franca Layer 2 and Layer 3 service protocols of choice for the
next generation access network, metro network, and eventually the long-haul network
as well, with a companion choice of optical technology to serve as the underlying basic
transport.
In short, service providers are deploying metro Ethernet to satisfy customer demand
and to simplify their networks so they can carry fast growing data traffic while handling
TDM traffic.
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