Metro Ethernet Forum comes together

At a time when the one that yells the loudest has a tendency to win out, the Metro Ethernet Forum has been developed by a group of vendors and service providers looking to promote and further the usage and deployment of optical Ethernet in metropolitan areas. The group is non-profit and has about 37 charter companies, although that number is expected to grow.

The top priorities of the group are to maximize the deployment of Ethernet-based metro networks; push the implementation of technologies and standards that help further end-to-end service creation and management; bring about broad interoperability of optical Ethernet services, and; enhance the awareness of those services.

“The metro transport market is going through dramatic change,” said Ron Young, president of the Forum and chief marketing officer at Yipes Communications. “We are uniting to accelerate the adoption of optical Ethernet. “We want to enhance the awareness of the benefits.”

Another goal of the Forum is to ensure optical Ethernet equipment continues to support both IP and TDM traffic, as the likelihood of encountering both in the metro area is high.