Carrier Ethernet builds critical mass

New equipment introductions at NXTcomm08 were in many ways a love letter to carrier Ethernet, illustrating its growing influence, even among skeptics.

To begin with, there was a slew of new carrier Ethernet gear focused on wireless backhaul and enterprise data. Actelis, ADVA Optical Networking, Aktino, Anda Networks, Ceterus Networks and RAD Data Communications all announced new Ethernet-related products at the show for such applications. Juniper Networks, once regarded as something of a holdout on carrier Ethernet, announced new enhancements to its MX line of carrier Ethernet gear. The attention paid to Ethernet in wireless backhaul in particular was no surprise because interest in combining the two is high, but actual deployment so far has been low.

One of the more interesting trends was the embrace of carrier Ethernet by equipment vendors that so far have been vocal supporters of alternative technologies. Fujitsu Network Communications, which only a year ago said its new packet optical networking platform would focus on MPLS and pseudowires because provider backbone bridging traffic engineering (PBB-TE) was not mature enough, this month called PBB-TE the “ideal” metro transport technology, adding support of it to the Flashwave 9500. (It also confirmed what many have suspected for months: that Verizon has deployed the MPLS-based 9500.)

Redback Networks, well known as an IP/MPLS equipment vendor and now known as Ericsson, also announced new carrier Ethernet gear in advance of the show, adding low-cost transport to its data-rich subscriber management systems. “Ericsson's entry into the metro Ethernet market could disrupt some of the existing customer [and] vendor relationships and redirect part of [those] revenues,” Telecom Strategy Partners wrote in a note analyzing NXTcomm08. “Ericsson counts between its customers at least 75% of the world's fixed and mobile carriers.”

NXTcomm08 also saw Alcatel-Lucent, a vocal proponent of Layer 3 IP/MPLS, embrace PBB, a Layer 2 technology, to help scale MPLS-based virtual private LAN services in metro networks. Alcatel-Lucent has had success combining IP/MPLS with carrier Ethernet at the edge, but it hasn't warmed up to PBB-TE. And so its embrace of PBB, which essentially is a super-set of PBB-TE and targets some of the same problems of scaling complexity, is interesting.

All this activity further reinforces the value of Ethernet in carrier networks, but it also provokes questions about just how far vendors of Layer 3 technology will shift their mix toward Layer 2 over time.

Another trend at the show was a new breed of network management gear focused on maintaining quality of service (QOS), upholding service level agreements and maximizing network utilization efficiency. Some new start-ups made their first appearances, including Ethos Networks, Gridpoint Systems and Zeugma Systems. New gear also appeared from Accedian Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, which added new functions to its service router aimed at giving consumers more choice in the performance of broadband services. This evolution in QOS will create not just more sophistication in carrier services, but much greater diversity, which could give rise to a new terminology in broadband offerings.