Integra Telecom Completes Carrier Ethernet Offerings with E-LAN

CEN Feature (Jan 10 2013) Business Ethernet , Global , Wholesale / Exchange

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   As promised, Integra Telecom has launched E-LAN Carrier Ethernet (CE) service to business customers in the company’s footprint across the western United States. The multipoint-to-multipoint Layer 2 service fills out Integra’s Carrier Ethernet portfolio and helps the carrier execute its new strategy to move up-market to serve larger customers, according to Mike Kozlowski, director of product management for Integra.

   “E-LAN’s any-to-any capability is of high value, especially to our medium to large customers in verticals such as the healthcare, retail, professional and financial industries,” said Kozlowski. “We can provide these customers with a port- or VLAN-based Layer 2 network. This enables them to create multiple service topologies through a single port.”

   E-LAN also allows customers to maintain their own routing and move network traffic to take advantage of the full benefits of Ethernet. Integra’s performance monitoring portal, introduced in mid-2012, provides customers with a clear view of their Layer 2 traffic.

   “The performance monitoring portal is a great complement to E-LAN,” said Kozlowski. 

   Integra has been managing a trial of E-LAN over the past four months with several customers up to this commercial launch. Businesses purchasing E-LAN are typically using the service for greenfield applications. Others are migrating their multipoint service from old frame relay networks that transmitted traffic across 1-Mbps permanent virtual circuits to faster, simpler and more flexible Ethernet.

   E-LAN provides customers with complete Layer 2 mesh connectivity for multiple locations at up to 10 Gbps of bandwidth. E-LAN also supports a transparent network for Layer 3 routing with the ability to retain control of any virtual local area network (VLAN) partitioning with the security of a private network, Kozlowski explained. The sweet spot for E-LAN is customers with five to 25 locations that do a lot of file sharing, data base applications and general networking. Businesses also use the versatile service to support converged voice, data and video.

   “We support a mix of Ethernet access options,” said Kozlowski. “In addition to our 2,300 fiber-connected buildings, Ethernet over Copper and our partner Ethernet Network-to-Network Interconnections allow us to provide E-LAN, and all of our other Carrier Ethernet services, domestically or internationally.”

   Integra’s E-LAN services are available through direct, indirect and wholesale channels across the company’s fiber and copper network footprint.

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