To sum up, a major, large-scale trend is that Ethernet is everywhere: Ethernet services
are offered by nearly all Service Providers around the globe. As discovered in the
course of interviewing providers that were offering Ethernet services by 2006, every
Service Provider queried already offered these services.
Ethernet is here to stay, but not only stay. Ethernet is here to dominate, especially in
the access and metro for the foreseeable future.
Part II
Solutions
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Chapter 4
The Solution Framework
by Abdul Kasim
This chapter defines a simple framework that attempts to clarify and put into perspective,
the different network solutions that are employed by Service Providers to deliver
Carrier Ethernet services. Using this framework, the specific solutions themselves are
described in the subsequent chapters.
Background
For the most part, the deployment of Service Provider networks in the metro (access)
and wide area (or alternatively, the metro core, regional, and long haul1) pre-dates
the emerging popularity of Carrier Ethernet. And as such, this infrastructure, which
includes the physical media and the transport mechanisms as well as higher layer
functionality such as switching and routing, is generally not optimized for the delivery
of these carrier-class Ethernet services.
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