Cox, MSOs help push Carrier Ethernet nationwide

CEN Feature (Sep 2 2010) Cable / MSO

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   It’s going to take more than a village to bring Carrier Ethernet to every building that needs to be connected. In their efforts to provide true nationwide Carrier Ethernet networks to business customers, all kinds of service providers are going to need each other’s help, including Cable MSOs such as Cox.

    

   Cox—ranked fourth on Vertical Systems Group’s Mid-2010 U.S. Business Ethernet Leaderboard—offers up networks with large footprints and networks that reach 80 percent of the commercial buildings that are not yet served by fiber, explains Brian Rose, senior manager of product development, for Cox Business Services.

    

   “The “F” in HFC stands for fiber,” he noted, adding, the “C” in coaxial cable can transport Ethernet the rest of the way.

    

   Indeed, Cable MSOs are making serious inroads with the technology, according to Vertical Systems. “Carrier Ethernet is one of the first data services that we have seen cable companies make an impact with, and a lot of that has to do with their infrastructures,” said Rosemary Cochran, principal, Vertical Systems Group. Their dense HFC networks in their territories provide the coverage that they themselves and other service providers need to get to remote locations, she added. 

    

   Trust is another critical issue when it comes to customers making big technological leaps. To that end, Cox has gone to great lengths to develop strong relationships with the business customers it has been offering Ethernet-based services to for the past 15 years, said Rose, adding, “We speak their language and serve them very effectively.” Also, with less legacy equipment deployed in their networks many customers have simply turned to MSOs for cheap and simple service over the years.

    

   “Cable MSOs are aggressively getting on the Ethernet bandwagon and they’re not standing still,” said Joe Kestel, Director of Consulting and Industry Analysis with New Paradigm Resources Group, which just released a report entitled Cable MSOs and the Business Services Market. “They are gaining expertise and reputation by the day, and have bigger fish in their sights.”

    

   According to Rose, wireless service providers have helped enhance Cable MSOs’ reputations, too. When Cox’s regional business customers began expressing an interest in nationwide Ethernet connectivity, Cox and other cable providers also became the beneficiaries of some enormous wireless backhaul contracts to serve thousands of locations, explained Rose. This has been a huge driver for MSOs to continue moving forward with their Carrier Ethernet services. Until then, they were hard pressed to justify spending millions of dollars to light up buildings in which they had no customers yet. Cox is investing a lot of time, energy and money in “moving up the paradigm,” he noted.

    

   In the end, Cox and most Carrier Ethernet players realize that a rising tide raises all ships, like Overture Networks’ Dave Stehlin for Carrier Ethernet News noted a few weeks back. The winner of any huge nationwide contract will have to call on other providers to serve so many end points, said Rose. Therefore, it is in everybody’s best interest to work together on standards and anything else that will drive equipment costs down and enable networks to be built to scale cost effectively. Plus service providers also need to make interconnection agreements sooner rather than later in areas that are strategic to their growth.

    

   “I think every service provider, whether it’s a large LEC, MSO or mid-sized company, recognizes that there is no way they will be able to overbuild each other completely,” he said.

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