Verizon goes global with Carrier Ethernet

CEN Feature (Sep 30 2010)

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   Verizon has spent much of the past year expanding its Carrier Ethernet footprint across the globe by extending its Virtual Private LAN service (VPLS) network to 32 countries. The provider’s VPLS network reaches even further when combined with the NNI agreements Verizon has made with 125 Ethernet access partners around the globe, all of which have passed the telco’s very rigid and localized certification process.

    

   This expansion has given customers worldwide the ability to transform their Ethernet local area networks (LANs) into the widest possible wide area networks (WANs) according Jeffrey Schwartz, group manager of global Ethernet product management for Verizon. And, in order to make things simple and consistent for customers everywhere, Verizon has also spent the last year deploying its very own global provisioning platform because customer requirements and dynamics may differ based on their specific geographic requirements, but their provisioning experience should not, he explains.

    

   “To provide services to global, multinational corporations, we had to create solutions that are plug-and-play no matter where their offices are located,” said Schwartz. “So we have taken great pains to deploy a global provisioning architecture that allows our customers to deploy solutions in the same way in all the different geographies we serve.”

    

   Another key to providing world-class global service is the ability to meet all of a customer’s needs with hybrid networks and solutions. Verizon has a “whole host of technologies” at its disposal to fit its customers’ current challenges and provide them with the specific service characteristics they are looking for in any environment—metro, national or global, said Schwartz. “We see a lot of opportunity for both VPLS and [MPLS-based] private IP services in hybrid environments both nationally and globally.”

    

   For example, Layer 2 VPLS may be a good solution for a company’s core network providing high-bandwidth for headquarters-to-headquarters data center type applications or storage applications. It would also be great for customers that are more comfortable controlling all of that traffic themselves using their own routing protocols, diverse protocols or technical applications. At the fringe of the same network, however, the same customer may prefer to use lower bandwidth Layer 3 private IP-based services and let the service provider handle everything for them, he explained.

    

   Verizon’s deep and diverse local, national and global capabilities “resonate with customers” looking for the opportunity and efficiency they can gain by working with global footprint providers like Verizon’s, said Schwartz. While Verizon foresees tremendous growth internationally, the company puts “equal weight” around its domestic capabilities, he added. Locally and nationally, Verizon is experiencing continued customer growth as it adds new customers and makes requested upgrades for renewing customers.

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