MEF Defines Carrier Ethernet

The Metro Ethernet Forum has defined what it means to deliver carrier-class Ethernet by defining the five attributes required. The group also today announced plans for an independent lab to do certification based on that definition.

The five new carrier-class attributes are scalability (related to both services and bandwidth), protection (5msec), hard QoS (through end-to-end SLAs), TDM support to do circuit emulation) and service management.

The first phase of the Certification Program, based initially with Iometrix Inc.’s test laboratories and starting this month, will allow MEF member companies to obtain international certification that their products meet the Carrier Ethernet service standards detailed in the MEF specifications, widely acknowledged as the primary definition for Metro Ethernet services. Following the first phase, certification will be available to non-MEF members from a growing number of laboratories worldwide, and will extend to embrace Carrier Ethernet services as well as equipment.

The intention is to complete the first phase of the program toward the end of the third quarter this year, when further test laboratories will be accepted by the MEF Certification Committee and the Program will be opened up to non-members of the MEF.

People interested in Carrier Ethernet and certification will be able to visit the MEF booth at SUPERCOMM this June in Chicago, where they also will be able to view the first public demonstration of these five standardized attributes. Twenty-five to 30 companies will take part in the interoperability demo, which is the largest the MEF has ever staged.

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines