tw telecom Launches MEF 33 Carrier Ethernet Access Service

CEN Feature (Jan 22 2013) Middle Mile , National , Wholesale / Exchange

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   Thanks to the MEF 33 standard approved last year, tw telecom is now able to offer its wholesale customers a new option when they need Carrier Ethernet connectivity to markets where they don’t have their own infrastructure. The service is called E-Access and it enables tw telecom’s carrier customers to interconnect with tw telecom in a single market and gain connectivity to buildings in any of its other 74 markets.

   “What we’ve done is identify a number of key interconnection points where customers might want to connect to us,” said Mike Rouleau, senior vice president of business development and strategy for tw telecom, in an interview.

   As Rouleau explained, the company initially is targeting international carriers that may not have a U.S. backbone. Columbus Networks already plans to use the offering to provide Ethernet connectivity from customers in its home Carribean market to locations throughout the U.S. via a single Ethernet network-to-network interface to tw telecom in Miami.

   tw telecom also expects E-Access to be popular with regional U.S. carriers wanting to reach areas outside their home region. Previously if customers couldn’t “meet” tw telecom in every market where they needed connectivity, they had to rely on TDM connections.

   “Ethernet gives them a more scalable way to deliver VPN services,” said Rouleau.

   Rouleau said wholesale customers typically will connect to tw telecom using a gigabit or 10 gigabit connection, over which traffic from multiple retail customers will be delivered to multiple endpoints using individual lower-speed connections starting at speeds as low as 2 Mbps. The last mile connection at the remote end can be over fiber or copper.  

   As far as the end user organizations are concerned, they are purchasing point-to-point connections from TW Telecom’s carrier customer.

   tw telecom’s E-Access service also can provide resiliency.

   “When we connect the customer it’s typically over diverse redundant facilities with dual entrances or diverse fiber routes built in a ring topography,” said Rouleau.

    

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