MEF ratifies first metro Ethernet standard

The Metro Ethernet Forum ratified the industry’s first standard for metro Ethernet service yesterday, a move that the group hopes will ultimately make it easier and more cost effective for service providers to purchase and implement the technology and therefore accelerate deployment of metro Ethernet services.

Among the specifications in the new standard, which is entitled Ethernet Services Model, Phase I, are some relating to the Ethernet user interface (EUI), the demarcation point between the service provider and the customer. The standard lists recommendations for various "bandwidth profiles" of the EUI (meaning the amount of bandwidth it provides) and defines parameters to allow service providers to deliver multiple services over a single port. In addition, the standard sets some specifications for delivering voice over IP through metro Ethernet networks.

"We’re really enabling not just a new technology here but providing some services which enable better cost models for the service providers," said MEF Chairman of the Board Mark Fishburn.

Later this year, the MEF will issue a Services Definitions specification to define the terms the sector uses to communicate aspects of the technology. Subsequent standards will follow to set parameters for different variations of metro Ethernet service, including requirements for network-to-network interfaces to complement the user interface specifications detailed in the first standard.