Global in scope

Global Crossing and IBM Global Services will provide direct support for customer data networking equipment, allowing Global Crossing to deliver end-to-end managed network services globally. IBM Global Services will install CPE equipment for Global Crossing's IP, frame relay and ATM data network services. The new managed WAN service initially will be offered to Global Crossing customers in North America, Europe and Asia.

Carriers' next goal for Ethernet is raising its power to 10 gigabit Ethernet. More than 80 equipment providers and service providers have joined the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance to create standards that will give Ethernet a ten-fold performance increase.

"Carriers are currently limited to 2.5 gigabit Ethernet and below in the metro area, which creates a bandwidth gap between high-speed Ethernet LANs and in wide area connections," said David Yates, vice president of marketing for Atrica, a 9-month-old spinoff from 3Com that offers equipment for optical Ethernet.

As a member of the 10 Gigabit Alliance, Atrica and others are discussing standards for the media access control and physical layer. Established in February, the group planned to publish its second draft at the end of November. To date, the most contentious point for the organization has been the physical layer device.

"Every vendor has its own preference for the device and the distance," said Tony Lee, director of product marketing and alliances for Extreme Networks and president of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance. "We have summarized the distance options to five." The five distances are at least 65 meters over multimode fiber (MMF), at least 300 meters over installed MMF, at least 2 kilometers over single-mode fiber (SMF), at least 10 kilometers over SMF and at least 40 kilometers over SMF.

As Atrica, Extreme and other equipment providers push standards and new equipment, the carriers continue to expand their service offerings into new markets. "The car is driving itself," said John Mullan, director of private data networking product management for XO Communications. "We have standard interfaces, an overwhelming presence of Ethernet topologies and the necessary hardware and technologies."

Carriers deploy the services quickly because Ethernet is not an unknown entity. "Since Ethernet is widely used and has well-defined standards, we're seeing inexpensive equipment come onto the market fast," said John Kane, CEO for Telseon. "Many companies are reluctant to agree to IEEE standards for 10 gigabit Ethernet because it dilutes their ability to control the marketplace. The companies want a non-standard-based structure so we will be stuck buying their equipment."

While carriers watch 10 gigabit Ethernet developments, they also are showing interest in seeing more standards in other areas, particularly network management. "A lot of standard work is necessary to give customers seamless self-provisioning," said Jerry Parrick, CEO for Yipes Communications. "We need standard interfaces for equipment and standardized WDM hardware."