New MEF Chairman to Seek Easier Interconnection

CEN Feature (Aug 21 2012) MEF

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   Ihab Tarazi, the new chairman of the Metro Ethernet Forum would like to “get the right people engaged to drive the adoption of standards at a much faster pace,” Carrier Ethernet News learned in an interview this week.

   Tarazi certainly seems to have the right credentials for the task. As vice president of global network planning at Verizon, he is responsible for the global expansion of the carrier’s network, including the MPLS backbone that supports the company’s Carrier Ethernet services.

   “The MPLS network supports IP, public IP, FiOS, wireless from Verizon Wireless and connectivity to the cloud, as well as secure VPNs, private IP and Ethernet for business customers,” explained Tarazi.

   “We’re one of the largest global IP and Ethernet networks,” Tarazi added. “By going into new cities across the globe we are now reachable from 150 countries across the world.”

   Tarazi said his number one goal as MEF chairman is to make it easier for carriers to interconnect with one another using Carrier Ethernet.

   “When two carriers connect with Ethernet, it’s a custom job today,” he said. “If we don’t simplify and standardize the operational model, Ethernet will be difficult to adopt. My number one goal is to solve that issue.”

   He added that the MEF will try to address the issue by providing more guidelines around the operational model of how Carrier Ethernet is implemented. “People can compare a sheet and say, ‘I implemented it the way the MEF said to do it,’” he explained. “And if we all do it the same way it cuts down on the custom work.”

   That sounds a lot like what the Carrier Ethernet 2.0 guidelines, introduced by the MEF earlier this year, aim to achieve – and Tarazi said the reaction to Carrier Ethernet 2.0 has been “very positive.” Noting that many carriers were involved on the standards teams that created the Carrier Ethernet 2.0 standards, Tarazi said, “A lot of people are looking at it and working on it – it’s definitely something people will be adopting.”

   Tarazi also would like to help make the MEF more global.

   “It has a global footprint now but membership is more concentrated in the U.S. and we need to get more representation from” other parts of the world, he said.

   Moving forward, Tarazi sees Carrier Ethernet growth continuing to be driven by migration from legacy services such as TDM, ATM and frame relay. Carrier Ethernet is particularly appropriate for supporting IP networks, Tarazi said.

   “When you have IP network nodes, the most efficient way to put up an IP network is to connect it with Ethernet pipes,” he said.

   Tarazi said Carrier Ethernet is emerging as an option for cloud connectivity, but still faces some challenges there.

   “One of the challenges the MEF wants to address is how to make Ethernet scalable and to integrate with the cloud,” he noted.

   Carrier Ethernet, he said, needs to “work effectively with the software side” – the servers that are “looking for specific features.” In addition, he said, Carrier Ethernet must scale to work effectively with thousands of servers.

    

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