MEF Starts Carrier Certification for Ethernet

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) will begin certifying service providers as compliant with the MEF's Carrier Ethernet service specifications. The process begins Phase 2 of its Carrier Ethernet Certification Program.

"By defining and certifying Carrier Ethernet standards of Ethernet services, the MEF enables end users to make an informed choice about which service providers and offerings to use," says Nan Chen, president of the MEF.

Besides guaranteeing conformity and quality levels for enterprise and residential customers, compliance will ease interoperability between providers and advance Ethernet deployment worldwide, he notes.

Using a battery of 240 test cases for the specifications laid out in the standards body’s MEF 9 specifications, Iometrix, a testing lab, will determine compliance. The initial certificates (for Ethernet Private Line, Ethernet Virtual Private Line and Ethernet LAN services) will be given during the first quarter of 2006. Service providers will use a special MEF-certified logo to alert end users that they won certification.

AT&T Corp., Met-Net, Qwest Communications International Inc., SBC Communications Inc., Time Warner Telecom, T-Systems and Verizon Communications Inc. are among the first service providers to sign on to the program. Carriers will take compliance with the MEF’s standards and specifications for provisioning and other architectural points as a basis to roll out comprehensive SLAs around quality, reliability and performance.

“This will give us an opportunity to have consistency for running applications, from small locations to those in the NFL cities,” says Ann Mahoney, vice president of data product marketing at Time Warner Telecom. “Our customers can have even more confidence in the service we provide.”

Carrier interconnection quality assurance is another attractive benefit for participants. “Building nationwide Ethernet services will be a focus for us,” says Michael Tighe, director of Advanced Data Services at Verizon. “That requires links with other providers. Certification of services will ease interoperability and jumpstart that.”

Phase 1 of the program, for systems and equipment certification, was launched in April. To date, 39 systems from have been certified from 16 vendors, including Alcatel, Cisco Systems Inc., Fujitsu, Nortel Networks, Siemens, Tellabs and others. The availability of standard equipment, combined with services standardization, will form the basis for a rapid expansion of scalable, reliable, innovative Ethernet services going forward, boosters say.

"I already see Ethernet developing in three directions: Up in speed, down to 8 billion as-yet un-networked processors shipped each year, and increasingly over wireless links,” says Bob Metcalfe, advisory director to MEF. “But now it's moving even further across the telechasm between LANs and WANs with the development of Carrier Ethernet. The MEF's Carrier Ethernet Certification Program removes any remaining doubts – it's like taking the brakes off an already fast-moving vehicle."

Analysts tend to agree. Service providers worldwide purchased $3.1 billion in metro Ethernet equipment revenue in 2004, according to Infonetics Research, and in 2008 carriers will spend $7.6 billion. That totals almost $26 billion in spending during the five-year period. Worldwide carrier Ethernet switch and router revenue hit $183 million last year, and will grow to $2.6 billion in 2008, representing 34 percent of that metro Ethernet equipment market. Meanwhile, ports shipments will more than quadruple.

All that equipment buying will in turn drive the Ethernet services market, which will jump 276 percent between 2005 and 2009, reaching $22.2 billion. Carriers are lowering the price per bit for Ethernet bandwidth, helping fuel demand for it in all regions of the world, says Michael Howard, principle analyst at Infonetics.

The certification process for equipment and for services will be ongoing, the MEF says; as new gear is rolled out, it will undergo testing, and carriers will get re-certified if they make any large-scale changes to their architectures.

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