Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Debuts, Targeting Broader Usage

CEN Feature (Feb 23 2012) MEF

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   The Metro Ethernet Forum has packaged a range of new Carrier Ethernet standards introduced today into what the organization is calling Carrier Ethernet 2.0.

   In comparison with the first generation of Carrier Ethernet standards that focused on “delivering standardized services over a single provider’s network,” Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is focused on “delivering multiple classes of service and manageability over multiple provider networks,” said MEF President Nan Chen in a pre-briefing with Carrier Ethernet News yesterday.

   And just as the first generation of standards helped spur growth in Carrier Ethernet services several years ago, the new standards are expected to provide a similar boost by simplifying the process of delivering services that span more than one carrier’s network.

   “With a standard framework, enterprises can expect more standardized predictable performance,” said Mike Volgendi, director of product transformation for Verizon.

   Five new services, three new capabilities

   The new Carrier Ethernet 2.0 set of standards expands the number of Carrier Ethernet services from three to eight and adds three important capabilities to all eight services.

   New services include E-Tree services designed for a broadcast environment and E-Access. Both services will be available in a virtual or non-virtual implementation, thereby accounting for four of the five new services. While non-virtual implementations support only a single logical service over a single user interface, virtual implementations allow multiple services over a single interface.

   The fifth new service is a virtual version of E-LAN service, which previously was defined only in a non-virtual implementation. (The other two pre-existing services were virtual and non-virtual implementations of E-Line private line replacement service.)

   As for the three new Carrier Ethernet capabilities, one is focused specifically on interconnection of the eight services between service providers. Another is an expansion of Multi-CoS—a term the MEF first began using earlier this month when it announced a consistent class of service framework for mobile backhaul networks to address the requirements of various types of services that carriers need to carry on those networks.

   See CEN article on mobile backhaul here.

   Rather than expecting every carrier to determine how to prioritize different types of traffic and how to configure parameters involving jitter, latency and the like, the MEF has now come up with recommended settings for a range of services. Conforming to these recommendations will enable service providers collectively to support a higher level of consistency than in the past, which should simplify the process of provisioning services that must traverse more than one carrier’s network.

   The third of the three new Carrier Ethernet capabilities involves new management and performance monitoring standards. Here, too, the goal is to make it easier to manage services across multiple provider networks by providing a consistent means of monitoring and managing services.

   Not every carrier has deployed Carrier Ethernet everywhere, nor can they afford to do so. By simplifying the interconnection process when one carrier must rely on another, Carrier Ethernet 2.0 should speed that process, which in turn should drive greater efficiency, lower cost and greater usage. 

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