THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4

ENTERNET 101 5

STANDARDIZED ETHERNET SERVICES EXPLAINED 6 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

ETHERNET BUSINESS SERVICES –A PRIMER 7 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

THE BENEFITS OF ETHERNET 9

WHY ETHERNET FOR INFRASTRUCTURE 10 BY JOHN HAWKINS

ETHERNET: THE POWER BEHING IT SERVICE DELIVERY 12 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

THE IMPACT OF MOBILE: IS YOU NETWORK READY FOR THE WIRELESS WORKING REVOLUTION 13 BY JAMES MORRIS

ENSURING BUSINESS CONTINUITY WITH ETHERNET 15 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

DEEP DIVE: ETHERNET WAN 16

BEYOND THE CITY LIMITS: HOW ETHERNET IS EXCEEDING THE METRO BOUNDARY 17 BY JAMES MORRIS

IS ETHERNET THE NEW WIDE AREA NETWORK 20 BY JAMES MORRIS

EMPOWERING YOUR CLOUD WITH THE ETHERNET WAN 23 BY JAMES MORRIS

ETHERNET WAN: THE NEW PRIVATE CLOUD ACCELERATOR 26 BY JAMES MORRIS

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 2 DEEP DIVE: CARRIER ETHERNET 29

CARRIER OPPORTUNITIES: HOW TO EXPAND THE POTENTIAL OF ETHERNET OUTSIDE THE WAN 30 BY JAMES MORRIS

HOW CARRIER ETHERNET CAN SIMPLIFY YOUR NETWORK MANAGEMENT 33 BY SIMON WILLIAMS

IMPROVING THE ENTERPRISE NETWORK WITH CARRIER ETHERNET 36 BY JOHN HAWKINS

CONTROLLING COSTS IN THE ENTERPRISE NETWORK: LAYER 2 VS. LAYER 3 38 BY JOHN HAWKINS

HOW CARRIER ETHERNET HELPS MID-SIZED BUSINESSES EMBRACE THE CLOUD 40 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

ETHERNET BUYER’S GUIDE 42

MAKING THE RIGHT NETWORK DECISION FOR YOUR ENTERPRISE NEEDS 43 BY WAYNE RASH

SHOPPING FOR AN ETHERNET SERVICE PROVIDER? HERE ARE FOUR THINGS TO CONSIDER 44 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

T-1 OR ETHERNET: A SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISION 45 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

WHAT’S NEXT FOR ETHERNET 47

THE FURTURE OF ETHERNET 48 BY COMCAST BUSINESS

LIFE BEGINS AT 40; HOW ETHERNET’S FUTURE COULD BE EVEN MORE GOLDEN THAN ITS PAST 49 BY JAMES MORRIS

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 52

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 3 “The Ultimate Guide to Ethernet” is a valuable resource for anyone looking to learn about Ethernet — from the basics to technical deep dives.

This comprehensive e-book gives you everything you need to know to effectively implement and manage Ethernet services at your organization.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 4 ETHERNET 101

Ethernet technology can get complex quickly, so it’s important to establish a strong foundational understanding of the services that the technology can offer. In this section, we’ve compiled several articles that outline the very basics of Ethernet services and connectivity.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 5 STANDARDIZED ETHERNET SERVICES EXPLAINED COMCAST BUSINESS

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), a global industry alliance dedicated to defining Carrier Ethernet standards, has defined standardized Ethernet services that address the two basic types of connectivity, namely, point-to-point (site-to-site) or multipoint (any-to-any).

Each of these service types has two associated service definitions. One service definition is for port-based services similar to traditional TDM private lines where you order a single service per Ethernet port. The other is a virtual local area network (VLAN)-aware service where the service provider differentiates between certain Ethernet traffic based on how it is tagged — with or without a V-LAN ID.

PORT-BASED ETHERNET SERVICES Port-based services are the simplest form of Ethernet service requiring little coordination with an Ethernet service provider. This is because the service makes no differentiation of Ethernet traffic entering the user-to-network interface (UNI), from the customer’s attaching equipment. Basically, it provides a “bits in, bits out” service for a specific amount of subscribed bandwidth. The MEF has defined Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Private LAN (EP-LAN) as the point-to-point and multi-point port-based services.

VLAN-AWARE ETHERNET SERVICES With VLAN-aware services, you can support multiple Ethernet virtual connections (EVCs) on the same Ethernet port. Each service is identified based on how the Ethernet frames are tagged. This saves you the cost of purchasing additional ports from a service provider as well as for your attaching equipment. It also enables you to add additional EVCs in the future as long as there is sufficient bandwidth available on the Ethernet UNI.

While VLAN-aware services require you to inform the service provider which VLAN IDs (or untagged Ethernet frames) you want associated with a particular service, this is a one-time coordination for each Ethernet UNI at each service location. The MEF has defined Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) and Ethernet Virtual Private LAN (EVP-LAN) as the point-to-point and multi-point VLAN-aware services.

MEF SERVICE TYPES The MEF has defined E-Line and E-LAN service types as the generic category to describe all point-to-point and multi-point services, respectively.

E-Line service types are best used for point-to-point connectivity for applications such as data center interconnect and site-to-site VPNs, or site-to-cloud applications such as cloud computing, SaaS, or connectivity to an MPLS backbone network. E-LAN service types are best used for multi-site connectivity where you have many locations in a metropolitan area that require a high degree of inter-site connectivity. Adding additional sites over time is simpler with E-LAN service types since adding a new site does not require every site’s bandwidth to be upgraded.

MEF-CERTIFIED ETHERNET SERVICES When selecting an Ethernet service, you should verify that the service is ME-certified. The MEF has a certification program that tests Ethernet services for compliance to MEF technical specifications. The certification assures buyers that the Ethernet services are MEF- compliant and capable of delivering well-defined levels of service quality. The certification also provides IT departments with the information to make informed decisions when comparing Ethernet service offerings.Get details on the MEF certification program.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 6 ETHERNET BUSINESS SERVICES — A PRIMER COMCAST BUSINESS

Today, your business relies more heavily on being networked between facilities, data centers, suppliers, business partners and customers than ever before. In fact, some would say that the network IS your business, making your choice of network service technology absolutely critical.

Business Ethernet services are one of the fastest growing wide area network (WAN) communications services because of their flexibility, scalability and cost-effectiveness to address a wide variety of current and emerging applications.

All Ethernet services rely on three fundamental components to deliver basic Ethernet service functionality:

• Ethernet Ports • Ethernet Connectivity • Ethernet Service Bandwidth

Following is a review of each component to provide you with a fundamental understanding of how Ethernet services work.

ETHERNET PORTS An Ethernet port, technically referred to as an Ethernet user-to-network interface (UNI), provides the service demarcation point of responsibility between you and the service provider. The UNI type is selected based on the type of Ethernet port your attaching equipment uses, e.g., fiber optic or electrical connection, and the speed of the port.

Some equipment supports multi-rate ports, e.g., 10/100Mbps or 10/100/1000Mbps electrical interfaces, which simplifies the migration to higher speeds as your bandwidth needs increase over time. The significance of the Ethernet port speed you select will depend on your initial bandwidth requirements and your anticipated incremental bandwidth needs for the duration of the service agreement.

ETHERNET CONNECTIVITY Ethernet services are available that support two basic types of connectivity — point-to-point (site-to-site) or multi-point (any-to-any). The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), the governing Ethernet standards body, has defined the Ethernet virtual connection (EVC) to logically represent these forms of Ethernet connectivity.

The type of Ethernet connectivity you’ll need is closely related to the type of network topology you would like to create and its selection will depend on a number of factors, including:

• Types of applications to be supported • Application performance requirements • Number of locations to connect initially and anticipate connecting to over time • Traffic flow patterns

The most widely deployed Ethernet services use point-to-point connectivity. Multi-site connectivity can be achieved by using a hub- and-spoke or meshed topology of point-to-point EVCs or a multi-point EVC. It is important to understand the differences between each approach to ensure you select the one that best addresses your application requirements.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 7 ETHERNET SERVICE BANDWIDTH Ethernet service bandwidth defines the amount of traffic you can send to or receive from the network. The service bandwidth can be specified to be the bandwidth of an entire Ethernet port speed or the port speed could be subdivided into the amount of bandwidth needed for a given application. Service bandwidth could also be specified for each service or class of service (CoS).

Ethernet service bandwidth is specified using a committed information rate (CIR). The CIR, specified in Mbps, articulates the amount of service bandwidth that will be subject to the service performance objectives in the product specifications.

Service providers may offer an excess information rate (EIR) or a CIR and EIR for a given service. An EIR-based service (service with no CIR, i.e., CIR=0) is a best effort service with no assurance that any traffic will get through the network. A service with a CIR and EIR will assure that traffic conformant to the CIR will meet the specifications. Traffic bandwidth that exceeds the CIR is considered excess traffic and is provided no bandwidth assurances; EIR traffic may get through the network if there is no congestion.

For a more in-depth description, as well as insight into advanced Ethernet services options, read the white paper Understanding Business Ethernet Services.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 8 THE BENEFITS OF ETHERNET

So, we’ve covered the basics of Ethernet, but now you probably want to know why you would choose Ethernet services for your business. Ethernet connectivity not only provides enterprises with flexible bandwidth for scaling businesses, it also allows for consolidation of network services resulting in a streamlined infrastructure and protocol. In this section, we’ve highlighted exactly what you need to know about how Ethernet can improve your business network performance.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 9 WHY ETHERNET FOR INFRASTRUCTURE? JOHN HAWKINS — SENIOR ADVISOR, PRODUCT AND TECHNICAL MARKETING AT CIENA

Ethernet as a data networking technology has been in wide use for many years, keeping pace with the network speeds demanded by applications and adding key service management and quality of service (QoS) attributes needed to succeed beyond the local area network (LAN). But considering it for a starring role in wide area network (WAN) infrastructure requires regarding the network from a different perspective.

SIMPLICITY The nature of the access and aggregation infrastructure lends itself to more stable, longer-term connections that are intended to backhaul user traffic to an edge node where information is held and processed (typically a data center — private, public, or some hybrid). This so-called “user-to-content” connectivity benefits little from full-scale routing and the complex and often proprietary functions that can overburden today’s router hardware. All that is needed are simple connections that can be traffic engineered and protected, if necessary, and provide deterministic (well-bounded) behaviors such as latency, jitter, and packet loss. The real purpose of the access/aggregation network is to connect users to their desired content or application, while making the most efficient use of the expensive fiber plant.

NETWORK PERFORMANCE Because it operates under a uniform protocol from LAN to WAN, Ethernet connectivity avoids unnecessary protocol conversions and is ideally suited for a wide range of critical enterprise applications such as latency-sensitive storage applications, financial trading programs, critical infrastructure protection, and rich media applications. Combined with modern packet-based traffic engineering technologies such as MPLS-TP, specific routes (and backups) can be engineered for a given level of performance. These can be dynamically defined, but, often in the access/aggregation scenario, statically created tunnels will be preferred where deterministic performance is required. Also referred to as “connection-oriented”, these tunnels can be planned ahead of time, monitored on an ongoing basis, and adjusted to reflect dynamic bandwidth demand.

NETWORK SECURITY AND CONTROL The connection-oriented Ethernet approach also ensures traffic is only delivered where it should be. Spanning Tree Protocol is no longer used, as the deterministic tunnels do not require the traditional learning or restoration functions performed in a traditional Ethernet LAN. Snooping of traffic is therefore less of a concern, as an inherent layer of security is built in, with layers of visibility and control of the Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC). Scalability is provided architecturally by using virtual switches within physical switches to provide secure, end-to-end traffic separation. End users can control their own network assets without interfering with other users or the larger enterprise infrastructure.

FLEXIBLE, SCALABLE BANDWIDTH The increasingly cloud-centric networking environment can benefit from sharing costs among a community of users. New software- defined networking (SDN) approaches have enabled scheduling of bandwidth on an as-needed basis for cost-sharing purposes. Dynamic, granular, bandwidth-on-demand avoids overbuilding the network and brings such cost-saving options to the table. Dynamic scalability — from 1 megabits per second (Mb/s) to 10 gigabits per second (Gb/s) and more — allows for adjustments (up or down) to capacity deployment on a per-site basis, either via a user portal or automated machine-to-machine interactions (such as a virtual machine requesting more bandwidth from the network). While these capabilities are not unique to Ethernet, the determinism and operations and maintenance (OAM) tools available to L2-based infrastructure make it a compelling approach to providing such elastic bandwidth for end- users and applications.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 10 ETHERNET OAM A number of standards-based OAM tools provide advanced means to monitor and manage the communication on Ethernet virtual private networks (VPNs). Again, while these tend to be carrier-driven features, end users will also appreciate the level of visibility and control they provide in the enterprise environment. Tools like loopback and continuity checks help ensure a connection is up and running before it is relied on in a working environment. Others, like periodic latency and jitter measurements, help organizations ensure they are receiving the service levels they need for the health of their business applications.

THE BOTTOM LINE Today’s network traffic flows and dependencies have changed due to the increased use of cloud and exploding bandwidth requirements. Enterprise network managers need to break free of business-as-usual approaches and take advantage of new tools for the network. A single, familiar Ethernet interface enables convergence of all services over a common network infrastructure and a unified end-to-end protocol, simplifying operations and taming the need to respond to escalating demands with additional network complexity.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 11 ETHERNET: THE POWER BEHIND IT SERVICE DELIVERY COMCAST BUSINESS

Ethernet has been around for 40 years, and in that time has become the dominant networking technology for organizations around the world. Ethernet reliably and securely links computers, servers, storage, and other devices while minimizing the latency that doesn’t just slow down data, but can slow down business, as well.

Because it is so widely used and based on a relatively simple protocol, Ethernet is easily managed and operated, and less costly to implement than other types of networking. Little wonder, then, that it is estimated to be used by more than 95 percent of all local area networks, or LANs.

Its design elements also make it uniquely suited for linking computers and other devices over long distances. Ethernet can connect buildings on a campus, or link corporate offices to a cloud provider, backup facility, or off-site data center. And it does so with its trademark low latency, making far-flung resources appear and perform as if they were on a local network. That capability is becoming increasingly important for businesses that are seeing their geographic footprint expand, and their employees become more mobile.

Using a private, Ethernet-based network for mission-critical applications and data, businesses can bypass the public Internet. This brings some important advantages. For example, with a single service provider managing the connection end to end, time-sensitive traffic can be prioritized and network performance closely monitored. Users can also benefit from service-level agreements (SLAs), which detail specific performance guarantees from the provider. For businesses, this means no unpleasant surprises and an avenue for growth.

Today, such business-class networking is readily available in the form of Carrier Ethernet. While Carrier Ethernet looks and acts like standard Ethernet — and integrates seamlessly with Ethernet LANs and networking gear — it adds carrier-level reliability and performance. Special monitoring and management tools help maintain service-level guarantees, with problems automatically detected and routed around in as little as 50 milliseconds. Carrier Ethernet is designed to meet not only the networking demands a company has today, but those it will have tomorrow.

By enabling businesses to grow their footprint, and their business, Ethernet lets them create a bigger, better future — for themselves and their customers.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 12 THE IMPACT OF MOBILE: IS YOUR NETWORK READY FOR THE WIRELESS WORKING REVOLUTION? JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

Mobile technology is revolutionizing the way we work. A few decades ago, computers were tied to desks, so we could only effectively work in the office. Then laptops allowed us to take our work home with us, or on trains. When wireless networking arrived we became able to remain connected on the move — anywhere in the office, in coffee shops and hotels, and around the house. Now that smartphones and tablets have joined the wireless arsenal, however, WLANs are becoming crowded. Add to that the increasingly bandwidth-hungry applications we are running on our devices, and you have the recipe for a frustrating experience.

The most obvious hog of bandwidth is video. The major video streaming sites now support HD, and a 720p stream will take close to 6Mb/s, while 1080p calls for at least twice that. Watching live TV online requires similar amounts of data throughput. So extensive consumption of video can put stress on a wireless network, so that the video streams stutter and other applications become sluggish. Extensive use of cloud services can also put a load on your WLAN, and a virtual private network (VPN) will use a varying amount of bandwidth. If you are watching video on your VPN desktop, much more data will be required than if you are using relatively static office applications.

Any kind of virtual desktop or cloud application will be sensitive to variable network service, and this is not just a matter of bandwidth. We are used to essentially immediate response from our desktop applications, so anything less than this from software perceived to be in this category will be perceived as frustrating. When using a VPN or cloud application, if there is regular sluggishness users will want to switch back to locally installed software instead. When network computers had resurgence at the tail end of the 1990s, one of the factors that prevented their widespread adoption was the lack of responsiveness compared to regular office desktops. The centralized management advantage was far outweighed by the disadvantage to everyday usability.

Although the technology of VPNs, cloud desktops and cloud applications has moved on considerably since the renewed interest in network computing of 15 years ago, the fact that these kinds of services are now being delivered over wireless networks has brought additional constraints. While a wireless network may in theory be rated well beyond the levels required by any of these activities, in practice the reliable bandwidth could well be an order of magnitude lower. Another key factor here is latency. Strong bandwidth won’t be so useful if the flow is sluggish to start. Wireless networks can be 10 times more latent than wired networks, and this can be further accentuated when there are lots of devices on the WLAN, sharing the throughput and negotiating their slice of the channel.

You probably won’t be getting the specified rate out of your Wi-Fi, either. A WLAN access point specified as 802.11n can theoretically run connections at up to 600Mb/s, when all four MIMO (multiple input multiple output) streams are utilized. This also requires the use of double-width 40MHz wavebands, and the congestion of the 2.4GHz spectrum in most urban areas will often make it hard to find a clear 40MHz band. The earlier 2.4GHz Wi-Fi standards specified up to 14 channels in Japan, up to 13 in Europe and most other countries, and up to 11 in the USA. Each channel is only 5MHz apart, though, so with 20MHz bands only three non-overlapping channels are available, and in 40MHz mode only Channel 3 can be used. So if there are multiple access points in the area, there’s a good chance that 40MHz mode won’t be available, and even 20MHz slots could be congested.

Wireless networking can fall foul of its own backwards compatibility, too. Although 802.11n has been around for a while, there’s also a very good chance that there are still devices using the older 802.11g standard on your network. This will drop bandwidth down to a theoretical maximum of 54Mb/sec, unless you have a dual-band access point or router, or a secondary access point to service legacy devices. But the latter won’t help the frequency congestion problem, only add to it.

Another issue with wireless networking is range. A typical access point will have a range of around 50m (164ft) indoors, and less than 100m (328ft) outdoors. A WLAN operating at 5GHz, such as the older 802.11a standard, is more susceptible to obstructions

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 13 than one using 2.4GHz, and hence has a range of about a third of this. As devices approach the range limit, performance will drop noticeably, particularly if there are obstructions in line of sight. Although the MIMO technology used by 802.11n and above has improved performance considerably in cluttered spaces, there are still plenty of reasons why a Wi-Fi access point will never come even close to its theoretical maximum.

The most recent 802.11ac standard looks like it should solve this bandwidth issue. It can provide up to 6.77Gb/s of aggregate bandwidth, or 11 times the throughput of 802.11n, because it supports twice as many MIMO streams — eight rather than four, although the first generation of 802.11ac only offered three — and 80MHz channels, which can be bonded into 160MHz blocks as well. However, the top performance requires multiple antennas to be used on both the access point and device, and many devices only support one antenna, giving a theoretical maximum of 433Mb/s on a single 80MHz band.

The 802.11ac standard’s ability to bond two 80MHz channels into 160MHz doubles bandwidth. So even a single-antenna device supporting this feature will have an 867Mb/s theoretical throughput, and quad-antenna devices could provide as much as 3.39Gb/s. However, as with a 40MHz dual channel for 802.11n, the 160MHz option with 802.11ac means only a few access points can coexist. Only two 160MHz bands can fit in the waveband without overlapping, and just one in the US, while only five 80MHz bands (four in the US) are available. A top-of-the-range access point with eight antennas and 160MHz channel support will require two Gigabit Ethernet links to the wired network to achieve full performance, too.

The 802.11ac standard also operates at 5GHz, which as we have already discussed has a shorter range than 2.4GHz, although the spectrum is less crowded, with no microwave ovens using that frequency. To mitigate the reduced range, the 802.11ac standard supports beam forming, meaning that the signal is not broadcast omni-directionally but specifically to each device, which should improve range when the wireless access point is not serving too many devices. But, again, if you have 802.11g devices on the network, they will operate at this speed and you won’t see the benefit of the new 802.11ac technology. Although 802.11ac doesn’t natively support 2.4GHz, most routers offer secondary radios to cater for 2.4GHz 802.11n, as well as other legacy devices.

The congestion problem is not just about the bandwidth available to each individual Wi-Fi connection, but the number of connections that an access point may be asked to support. In theory, an access point is only limited by the number of IP addresses it can dole out to connected devices, which will be 254 if it is acting as a DHCP server itself. Some routers limit the Wi-Fi allocation to fewer than 254, while a corporate WLAN using 802.1x authentication could support hundreds. But each device will grab a slice of the wireless connection, and the more devices there are the smaller the slices.

One technology that can be used to alleviate some of these stresses is Wireline. This takes advantage of existing wiring infrastructure that isn’t Ethernet cabling as a conduit for high-speed networking. Unless you are in a remote log cabin in the forest, your location will have power cabling, but any coaxial (for example for TV aerials) or twisted pair wiring for telephones could be used. This avoids the cost of laying fresh dedicated Ethernet cabling, or the potential bandwidth and quality of service issues associated with wireless networking.

The ITU-T G.hn standard supports Gb/s data rates and operation over telephone wiring, coaxial cables, and power lines. As with Wi-Fi standards since 802.11n, MIMO technology is used with G.hn to increase data transfer rates and improve signal quality when interference occurs. There are even plans to embed G.hn in the power supplies of devices so that they can be networked via their AC connections. A router with embedded G.hn can use the Wireline network as a trunk between locations, so you can place access points in close proximity to your users. G.hn makes this possible without having to lay Ethernet cabling from wireless access points to the main wired network. A new access point could be installed wherever power line, coaxial or telephone cabling is available, and act as a gigabit-speed wireless hub to the network or Internet.

The fact that we can carry on working or playing, whether we are wired or not, has been a huge liberation for both business and entertainment. You can access your work documents from the cloud, log into the same desktop via VPN from office, hotel or home, and stream live television in bed. But for these capabilities to deliver on their promise, particularly as more devices become Wi-Fi-enabled, the wireless network needs to be configured wisely. Careful choice of access point and client devices, as well as using a technology like Wireline to bring the access points closer to your wireless users, will improve their experience considerably, and deliver the true promise of high-performance wireless networking.

This article originally appeared on ITProPortal.com.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 14 ENSURING BUSINESS CONTINUITY WITH ETHERNET COMCAST BUSINESS

Until recently, business continuity (also known as disaster recovery) was more of an afterthought than a priority for companies. Even when there were plans in place, they were rarely updated or tested. Disasters could conceivably happen; the thinking went, but just how likely were they? And what, really, could a business do about them, anyway?

But in the past decade, we’ve seen all too clearly that disasters can and do strike, and that their impact can be devastating for individuals and businesses alike. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Hurricane Katrina, and Superstorm Sandy have shown that literally overnight, companies of all sizes, in all industries, can be sidelined by unexpected events. They’ve also shown that business continuity is critical. Even in the midst of an emergency, companies need to get their operations back up and running — quickly. Orders need to be fulfilled, phones answered, payroll checks cut, customer databases accessed, systems kept online.

The good news is that today’s companies can leverage some powerful tools to ensure business continuity — not only in the face of disaster, but any time sudden outages and downtime occur:

• Cloud-based applications enable core processes to be accessed from any location — even by employees working from home or regrouping at a temporary site.

• Mobile devices help maintain communications and productivity when a company’s headquarters is inaccessible. • Data mirroring allows businesses to maintain, in a separate location, up-to-date backup databases — ready to come online should the primary systems go down.

• Virtualization technologies let companies quickly restore their critical applications on new hardware, using up-to-date images, or “snapshots,” that can be distributed to remote locations.

But to work as designed, they all depend on one critical component: the network. And not just any network, but reliable, low-latency, highly available connections. That’s because Internet-related bottlenecks and delays will prevent tools like data mirroring and the cloud from achieving their full potential. The longer it takes for core applications and information to be accessed, the less agile a company will be when the going gets rough and the harder it will be to keep the business moving.

This is what makes Ethernet, a proven, low-latency standard for business networks, so critical for business continuity. Dedicated Ethernet connections to key resources like cloud providers, mirrored databases, and backup remote servers ensure that even in the face of disaster, businesses keep operating and serving the customers and clients who rely on them.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 15 DEEP DIVE: ETHERNET WAN

Are you moving your business to a cloud-based network? Do you need increased bandwidth to scale with your growing business? The power of Ethernet is ever-expanding, and it could be the answer to many network complexity issues. Check out these articles to learn more about Ethernet’s transformation into the new wide area network.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 16 BEYOND THE CITY LIMITS: HOW ETHERNET IS EXCEEDING THE METRO BOUNDARY JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

Ethernet used to just be the technology for the local area network. Once you reached the boundaries of a particular building, a different technology would need to be employed for connections between distant buildings and to the outside world in general.

For small businesses, this was ISDN, then ADSL, SDSL, VDSL and cable modems. But larger businesses have traditionally relied on leased lines, in particular T-carrier or E-carrier technology, depending on whether you are in the US or Europe. These bundle Internet connectivity with telephone services, using the infrastructure of public telephony to provide the necessary data connections.

However, the leased line is very old technology. T-carrier dates back to 1957, and although T3 lines can handle up to 45Mbits per second, and E3 lines 34.4Mbits per second, they are no longer the connection of choice. With the advent of fiber, technologies like Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) in the US and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) in the rest of the world have provided higher-bandwidth trunk connections.

But SONET/SDH can be prohibitively expensive, due to its origins as a solution for large-scale circuit-based communications, and the need to translate the packets of Ethernet local networks into SONET/SDH frames. This has pushed fiber-based connectivity well into the realm of service providers and large enterprises only.

Nevertheless, there is a growing hunger for high-bandwidth connectivity. The cloud is a significant driver. The need to access files and even software on demand from a remote location is constantly on the rise. Software as a service (SaaS) is increasingly important, as well as online audiovisual material being used for training, voice over IP, and webinars replacing physical meetings.

GROWING INTEREST IN ETHERNET All of these activities require high bandwidth and low latency. For businesses that make extensive use of cloud-based services, reliably fast connectivity is therefore essential. Heavy use of remote desktop VPNs will hammer a network, too, and if your business relies on a shared database, instantaneous synchronization when records are updated will keep employees productive.

As a result, there has been growing interest in Ethernet as an alternative technology for operating wide area networks (WANs) over metropolitan areas, known as Metro Ethernet. Although 1, 10, 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet supports distances of up to 100m (328ft) over copper wiring, it can be delivered up to 40km (25mi) over fiber. This is more than enough to cater for even quite large metropolitan areas.

A Metro Ethernet solution fulfills the need for bandwidth extremely well. It is already about a third of the price of providing the same bandwidth via leased line technology. But it is also capable of providing far more bandwidth than leased lines, and potentially more than SONET/SDH as well.

It can be supplied in an instantly scalable form, so if there is a spike in bandwidth requirement, this can be catered for temporarily. Metro Ethernet fulfills the needs of connecting resources in a metropolitan area with higher bandwidth and lower costs than previous technologies.

But the potential goes way beyond just wiring up key locations in a city. Metro Ethernet is becoming a high-bandwidth option for all manner of connectivity, upgrading a host of legacy technologies and providing the backbone for future applications too. Its latest developments give it more seamless connection to the Internet, the potential to play a key backhaul role for the most recent wireless data standards, and a more flexible selection of service topologies. So it has the features and opportunity to go well beyond the leased line replacement role it took in its original incarnation, empowering the next generation of networked activities.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 17 CARRIER ETHERNET The key factor with Metro Ethernet is that it is essentially Ethernet. It employs a special version called Carrier Ethernet (CE), but the protocol is exactly the same, so it benefits from the lowered costs afforded by being able to use ubiquitous commodity hardware and expertise for large parts of its implementation. It is completely compatible and so doesn’t require any special equipment or configuration, as no signal conversion is required. This is a key differentiator from SONET/SDH. Allied with the uniform protocol is greater security, as there are fewer opportunities to intercept communications as data packets are converted between formats. Carrier Ethernet has been adapted for effectiveness over long distances, however. Fiber is the main conduit, and the CE 1.0 specification standardized the way Ethernet is implemented over this conduit, bundling together standards proposed by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Providers of Metro Ethernet will often use the same fiber network cabling that they use to provide mobile phone tower backhaul. This is what makes upgrading capacity for corporate clients so easy, as the capacity is already available in the infrastructure. Just a few adjustments to client equipment are required to increase bandwidth.

A significant enhancement came with the arrival of the CE 2.0 in 2013, however. The first version of the CE specification standardized Metro Ethernet for delivery over one provider’s network, detailing two main services — E-Line and E-LAN — and a variety of MEF technical specifications for setup and management. CE 2.0 adds E-Tree and E-Access services, alongside a host more MEF technical specifications for additional attributes and more elaborate management scenarios. And while CE 1.0 was focused primarily on standardization, CE 2.0 allows multiple classes of service (Multi-CoS), with managed and interconnected characteristics.

One of the key features among all these standards is more efficient bandwidth utilization, where different classes of service can be given a hierarchy of priorities, which are maintained across the various stages of the connection. So, for example, real-time voice communications can be given priority over video, and both given priority over data. These can also be bundled and transferred across providers, the relevance of which becomes clear when you look at the new types of service that have been added with CE 2.0.

Of the original CE 1.0 services, E-Line is intended for point-to-point connections, with support for port-based Ethernet Private Lines and VLAN-based Ethernet Virtual Private Lines multiplexed services. So it is aimed at connecting two geographically distant office networks, or a business to a service provider. E-LAN, in contrast, is multipoint-to-multipoint and offers Ethernet Private LAN and Ethernet Virtual Private LAN variants. Since it can multiplex multiple Ethernet Virtual Connections at each user-to-network interface, it can connect a number of locations and even transport different, discrete networks across the same infrastructure.

HOW E-TREE SERVICE DIFFERS The New E-Tree service type, however, is a rooted point-to-multipoint system with roots and leaves. While roots can exchange data with each other and with leaves, the leaves can’t exchange data with each other. This is aimed at providing traffic segregation for cloud services, media distribution and franchise networks. For example, you could have multiple load-balanced cloud servers that can work together as roots, which the users can access as leaves without being able to access each other. As with the other types of service, there are regular Private and Virtual Private flavors of E-Tree.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, E-Access is about connecting different provider networks into one seamless whole. A service provider partners with an access provider to reach a remote customer location. The data is tunneled through the access provider’s network to the customer. This service is based on the MEF 33 standard, which simplifies the interconnection of the disparate services.

E-Access in particular relies on the CE 2.0 Multi-CoS ability, because it preserves classes of service for the subscriber, including bandwidth profiles and the Service Level Agreement, while transferring the priorities across the single E-Access class of service. As there are Private and Virtual Private flavors of E-Access, this makes eight different service types defined in total within CE 2.0 (two flavors of four basic types).

The CE 2.0 specification also offers better integration with the wider Internet. Hosted apps can be integrated with the Internet over a single connection, for example making public-private cloud hybrids more seamlessly usable. There’s support for 4G/LTE migration, so Carrier Ethernet can be used as backhaul to connect the many cell towers to the backbone network with enough bandwidth to support the huge leap in data demand of 4G/LTE compared to 3G.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 18 Here again the Multi-CoS abilities will mean that particularly latency-sensitive data types like voice and streaming video get the service they require for end-user satisfaction.

The CE 2.0 specification radically opens out the range of options for Metro Ethernet, pushing it well beyond the original concept. Where previously it was great for providing high-bandwidth private lines between metropolitan locations, either point-to-point or multipoint, now it can be used for a whole lot more.

Broadcasting to end users over Ethernet is now facilitated by the E-Tree service type, and Metro Ethernet can be provisioned wholesale by service providers thanks to E-Access, so companies won’t have to rely on one vendor to provide infrastructure in every location. This will accelerate adoption beyond merely providing fast connections between locations within a city, to regional and even national applications.

This article originally appeared on ITProPortal.com.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 19 IS ETHERNET THE NEW WIDE AREA NETWORK? JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

Connecting your office networks used to involve choosing between a host of different packet-switching and frame-based technologies that could take data over much longer distances than the internal Ethernet system was capable of. The wide area network (WAN) has traditionally relied on protocols and connection systems like X.25, Frame Relay, ATM, BISDN, FDDI, SONET/SDH and SMDS but all have been fraught with drawbacks. Performance has generally lagged considerably behind internal Ethernet networks, although it has improved as these technologies have developed. However, Ethernet is increasingly offering a viable alternative for a large selection of WAN implementations.

PRICE VS. PERFORMANCE The issues with existing technologies primarily revolve around the performance they can offer for the money, alongside the complications they introduce to networking topology, which in turn also leads to expensive implementation. For example, the once-popular X.25 protocol, although also packet-based, was different to the Internet Protocol that is now predominant on local area networks, so translation between the two was required. It was also designed to cope with networks that are much more error-prone than modern ones, with an error-correction system that restricted its performance capabilities. Some more recent versions have addressed these issues, although X.25 is still in use for specialist applications.

Frame relay was designed with performance in mind, transferring frames of data rather than the smaller packets of X.25. It is used with T-carrier and E-carrier lines operating at anything from 64Kbits/sec to 400Mbits/sec (in the US) and 565Mbits/sec (in Europe and Japan). The top-end performance has been able to deliver a very usable connection between major branch offices, with the lesser speeds providing adequate provision for smaller branches. But the pricing ramps up considerably, both in terms of the connection rental itself and the hardware required to convert a local Ethernet-based IP network to frame relay over T- or E-carrier.

Above frame relay, ATM over SONET/SDH can deliver higher levels of performance using the cabling of the telephone system. This can provide performance up to 40Gbits/sec using the top OC-768 implementation, but costs millions of dollars a month just for the connection. Like frame relay systems, the price of the equipment to translate the Ethernet IP network to the frame-based ATM on fiber-based SONET/SDH will also be decidedly high. Specialist knowledge will be required to set up and maintain this connection, and conventional knowledge about Ethernet LAN configuration will not be sufficient.

BANDWIDTH HUNGER, DRIVEN BY CLOUD So although frame relay and ATM over SONET/SDH have been providing stalwart service and a full range of bandwidth options for company WANs, the price and complexity of both mean that they aren’t the best options for the increasing hunger for inter-office bandwidth. One of the chief driving forces behind this is the private cloud. IDC estimates that private cloud spending will hit $24 billion by 2016, growing at a compound rate of 50 percent per annum until then. Infrastructure, Platform and Software-as-a-Service promise considerable cost benefits, but they require ubiquitous, high-speed connectivity between offices to be effective. This is a necessity for a distributed cloud system to be as seamless as possible for the end user, wherever they are located physically within the company’s range of offices.

However, the rise of the private cloud hasn’t been the only factor driving the need for greater bandwidth. More general use of collaborative applications, requiring shared data, has also been a contributing factor — in particular those involving video conferencing and video streaming, which require lots of bandwidth with the lowest latency possible. Companies have also been consolidating their data centers, so that there is more likelihood that servers, which used to be on the LAN, are now at the end of the WAN connection instead. The latter also increases the need for redundancy, with an even greater requirement for bandwidth between data centers so that they can remain synchronized, backed up and available.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 20 In fact, the bandwidth required by companies has been growing at a rate of over 30 percent year-on-year. But the budget for delivering that bandwidth has only been growing at 10 percent annually. This has meant that a technology providing the same or greater bandwidth than incumbent technologies for considerably less money is a very attractive proposition. This has made alternative WAN technologies look considerably more attractive, in particular Carrier Ethernet. As far back as 2007, in a Current Analysis survey of 120 decision makers, 46 percent of those currently using frame relay WANs planned to switch to Carrier Ethernet, while 61 percent of current ATM users felt the same way. By 2009, 73 percent of companies across all industries had started using Carrier Ethernet in some form.

Another survey by Nemertes Research pinpointed the reasons for the interest in Carrier Ethernet to be the low cost, flexibility, easy management and bandwidth it provides, with 60 percent of those surveyed putting the main emphasis on the level of expenditure. The commodity nature of the interfaces means that Carrier Ethernet wins out in terms of implementation costs, and the ubiquity of expertise in configuring Ethernet networking also means that staff will not need costly specialist training in order to manage an Ethernet WAN.

QUALITY OF SERVICE VS. BRUTE PERFORMANCE Quality of Service (QoS) is always a key consideration with WANs, since they will be required to provide dependable access to mission- critical services. One of the ways Carrier Ethernet can help with this situation is simply by reducing the cost of bandwidth. Thanks to this, companies can ensure QoS by over-specifying the performance of their WAN connections so that they are never too stretched. This is because setting up QoS optimally can be complex, and may not be easy to achieve at the first try. Fortunately, Carrier Ethernet is capable of supporting 100GB bandwidth between sites over 850km (528mi) apart. There are 400GB and 1TB varieties on the roadmap too. So it already surpasses the pinnacle of SONET/SDH’s abilities, with the potential to far exceed its performance in the future, although it is also possible to run Carrier Ethernet over SONET/SDH. In other words, plenty of bandwidth can be made available.

Nevertheless, Carrier Ethernet 2.0 specifies a whole host of technologies that can help answer the Quality of Service question. The Multi-COS capabilities mean different data types can be given varying levels of priority, for example prioritizing voice and video over less latency-sensitive Web data. A service-level agreement can be maintained even when multiple customers share the same cabling infrastructure. Higher levels of bandwidth can be provided on demand up to the interface speed, with no need to change any physical hardware. So if a company finds there is insufficient bandwidth for their WAN needs with their current connectivity plan, an upgrade will be readily available. It’s even possible to shape provisioning dynamically around peaks and troughs in demand, so a business only has to pay for the bandwidth it uses, rather than the maximum it might conceivably require.

ETHERNET WAN AS A COMMODITY There are further drivers making the cost of Ethernet as a WAN interconnect increasingly competitive. The arrival of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 has enabled the Ethernet WAN to be provided much more as a commodity. In particular, E-Access allows an Ethernet WAN to stretch across multiple Carrier Ethernet vendors, so that companies won’t be tied to the footprint of a single provider, and can build WAN connections using the services of multiple suppliers. This also makes for easier competition between vendors, since services can be transferred from one to the other without an expensive change of equipment and protocols.

Carrier Ethernet offers a hugely flexible variety of network design options, too. It can be used for simple point-to-point connections via its E-Line flavor, and multipoint-to-multipoint via E-LAN. The latest 2.0 specification allows a multipoint variant called E-Tree where hub nodes can communicate with each other, but users accessing these hubs can’t communicate between themselves. So there are many configurations available for different types of WAN.

Telecom companies spent $70 billion on Carrier Ethernet equipment and services in 2013, and their annual spend is expected to rise to $100 billion by 2017. As a result, Carrier Ethernet is now being installed in more business premises than all other technologies combined. However, the compatibility of Ethernet with existing technologies, including DSL, fiber, and SONET/SDH, means that it can be implemented even when some branches served by the WAN don’t have the necessary Ethernet cabling available yet. So it is safe to implement even when some of your offices are not going to be served by the full provision straight away.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 21 THE ETHERNET FUTURE The future is looking very bright for companies hoping to extend the utility of their WAN. Where the cost of implementation of a WAN above a certain level was often prohibitive for many companies, due to the expense of traditional technologies, Ethernet now has the potential to bring high performance to a much greater level of affordability. The increasingly competitive market for supplying Carrier Ethernet services can only mean cheaper, higher-quality provisions and more choice. The extra facilities in the latest Carrier Ethernet 2.0 standard will also mean the Ethernet WAN can be provided over a greater distance, so offices over a wider spatial area can be connected. In other words, Ethernet really could be the new wide area network for a huge range of companies.

This article originally appeared on ITProPortal.com.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 22 EMPOWERING YOUR CLOUD WITH THE ETHERNET WAN JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

The cloud has been one of the most popular buzzwords in computing for some time now, and it’s one that has plenty of reason to deserve the attention it has been getting. In fact, IDC has predicted that 2014 will see spending on the cloud surge by 25 percent, to reach over $100 billion, although this is still less than five percent of the $2.1 trillion overall worldwide IT spend predicted for the year.

However, the rapid growth of the cloud has had a knock-on effect on IT requirements in other areas, in particular the bandwidth and latency of a company premises’ connection to other company locations and the wider Internet. So, along with the growth in cloud, there is a growing need for faster connections. In this feature, we look at how an Ethernet WAN can play a significant role in satisfying that need.

FOLLOWING THE THIRD WAY The cloud is now often combined with social media, mobile computing and big data into the “third platform of computing,” and the Internet of Things is sometimes included here too. But its role in this quartet/quintet is not so much equal as fundamental, because the cloud is the technology that enables the other developments. The content of social media usually resides on cloud servers, mobile computing is vastly enhanced by ubiquitous access to data and files via the cloud, and big data is often hosted in the cloud as well. The key feature of the cloud is that its virtualization means the physical location of the data and services being accessed is subordinate to the ability to access them.

This is true of private as well as public cloud implementations, and perhaps even more so. A public cloud implementation such as storage or software as a service will be expected to be delivered from outside the local area network. But the private equivalents could be coming from servers in the building, over the corporate WAN, or even from some form of redundant balancing between the two. An employee will expect this to be irrelevant, and for the service to be responsive and usable, wherever in the company’s range of premises it is being accessed from. But in reality every service, even a redundantly load-balanced one, is hosted somewhere, and if that somewhere is accessed via a WAN connection rather than the LAN, its usability is going to rely on the potency of that WAN connection.

CONNECTION COSTS Traditionally, the WAN connections between corporate premises have used leased lines, frame relay or ATM. Leased line bandwidths range from 1.544Mbits/sec (T1) or 2.048Mbits/sec (E1) to 44.736Mbits/sec (T3) or 34.368Mbits/sec (E3), but prices can start at $1,000+ per month, and rise from there. So only the largest corporations have been able to afford the fastest versions, and even these are slow compared to the LANs they connect. With most desktop network interfaces now capable of Gigabit Ethernet speeds, a traditional WAN connection is likely to be orders of magnitude slower — tens, or even hundreds of times — which will be very obvious to end users. A Synchronous Optical Networking or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SONET/SDH) line is quite a bit faster at 155Mbits/sec, and ATM can reach gigabits per second by aggregating leased lines or SONET/SDH, but both are in the price range of telecommunications companies and very, very large organizations.

Allied with this is the complexity of these kinds of WAN connection compared to a LAN. With the latter, essentially the same protocol and technology is used across the entire network, from end users to backbone, even if the latter is fiber rather than copper. But where the LAN meets the WAN, a router switch will need to convert the Ethernet protocols to the alternative packet structures of frame relay or ATM, and then back again at the other end. The hardware to do this is expensive and requires specialized knowledge to set up. It also introduces latency and bandwidth constraints of its own.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 23 CLOUDING THE ISSUE All of this has made delivery of private cloud services over traditional WAN connections problematic. A June 2014 survey by the Cloud Industry Forum found that 78 percent of organizations had formally adopted some form of cloud service. The situation has been further complicated by the gradual shift from private to hybrid cloud, where internal and external services are woven together as seamlessly as possible into a combined whole. Some parts of a hybrid service will be coming from the internal LAN, while others will be arriving from the WAN or Internet connections. But only about 10 percent of businesses are looking at a pure cloud approach, according to the Cloud Industry Forum survey.

It’s clear, therefore, that a faster WAN connection at a much more affordable price than the traditional implementations is a necessity to take full advantage of the current cloud-oriented trends in IT provision. This is where the growing interest in Carrier Ethernet comes in. Where the traditional routes to high-bandwidth WAN connectivity are too pricey, and consumer-grade broadband technologies lack some important quality of service features that are necessary for corporate WANs, Carrier Ethernet has been specifically tailored for this kind of application.

While the latest version 2.0 specification of Carrier Ethernet has standardized the service even across different carriers, ever since its inception there have been some very good reasons why Carrier Ethernet has been the ideal technology for WANs. For a start, it is still essentially Ethernet, so a systems administrator who understands a LAN won’t need much extra training to cope with an Ethernet WAN. But right from the definition of Carrier Ethernet in 2005 by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), it has clearly been specified with the scalability, reliability, quality of service and management attributes in mind that are suitable for a WAN, and Metro Ethernet services and the MEF existed for a few years before that as well.

The first iteration of Carrier Ethernet defined E-Line services for point-to-point connections and E-LAN services for multipoint-to-multipoint connections, with metropolitan and regional links. E-Line is ideal for connecting two branches, while E-LAN can connect multiple locations, with virtual versions of both allowing them to carry multiple connections across the same infrastructure, for example if the WAN serves a community of businesses sharing multiple premises in an industrial area. However, with Carrier Ethernet 1.0, the infrastructure needs to be supplied by a single provider, which limits its flexibility and reach. Premises outside the infrastructure of the provider won’t be covered by the service, and will need to rely on traditional WAN technologies instead.

ETHERNET AT THE NEXT LEVEL Partly for this reason, in 2012 Carrier Ethernet was widened with some new specifications that formed the second generation. An important development here is the new E-Access service type, which allows a single Ethernet provision to run across the infrastructure of multiple vendors while maintaining its quality of service. This vastly expands the potential reach of an Ethernet WAN, making it a much more viable option.

The benefits can be considerable, too. Carrier Ethernet is already rolling out modules supporting 100Gbits/sec, with 10Gbits/sec and 40Gbits/sec already in wide use. Commodity services matching SONET/SDH, and considerably exceeding T3/E3 performance, are now available for pricing not far off what a single T1/E1 used to cost per month. While this might still be beyond the affordability of small businesses, and too expensive for use with small remote offices, medium enterprises and larger ones can now implement Carrier Ethernet at levels way beyond what was possible with legacy technologies. There are MEF specifications such as MEF 13, 20 and 23 that standardize the implementation of services, so providers can dynamically upgrade or downgrade a provision on request, making for a very flexible range of options.

Sheer bandwidth isn’t the only benefit, either. Around three quarters of companies are now using Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), according to Nemertes Research. This is because it can encapsulate packets from many different network protocols, allowing them to coexist. Ethernet fits extremely well into this. It can be carried over MPLS, so can sit alongside other types of network traffic that aren’t part of the WAN. However, the similar or even greater bandwidth available from pure Carrier Ethernet, and its reduced cost, are making it an attractive choice even here, with simpler deployment as well. The Multiple Class of Service ability added with Carrier Ethernet 2.0 means it can provide guarantees for latency-sensitive traffic that make it equally as viable as MPLS for many applications, and potentially more so when pricing is considered.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 24 ETHERNET POWER TO THE CLOUD The cloud is still currently the concept that is exciting IT managers the most, and has been for a few years now. The cost savings and management simplification the cloud can have very real appeal. But the technology that can empower businesses looking to implement the cloud, particularly in private and hybrid forms, is very likely to be Carrier Ethernet. According to Vertical Systems Group, Ethernet bandwidth surpassed that of legacy services in 2012, and is set to contribute over 75 percent of bandwidth by 2017. This is why Infonetics has predicted that $150 billion would be spent on Carrier Ethernet over the next five years. So if you’re looking to expand your use of cloud technologies, an Ethernet WAN could provide the connectivity you need to make the strategy a success.

This article originally appeared on ITProPortal.com.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 25 ETHERNET WAN: THE NEW PRIVATE CLOUD ACCELERATOR JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

The cloud has been one of the enablers of the Web 2.0 revolution.

When web pages became more like applications around the turn of the millennium, keeping data remotely rather than locally became a much more viable option, at least in terms of the ease with which it could be accessed.

But another element was required — ubiquitous availability. Fortunately, virtualization was becoming increasingly sophisticated around the same time, and this provided the server flexibility for dependable cloud hosting.

But one final piece of the puzzle still regularly causes problems. For seamless use of cloud-based services, reliable connectivity is a necessity as well. In this feature, we look at how an Ethernet WAN can solve this issue, particularly for private cloud applications.

CLOUD FORMATIONS A large proportion of the tasks we perform, both for business and personal activities, now rely on some form of cloud technology. However, companies are increasingly looking to the private cloud, or hybrid public-private cloud solutions.

Need for customization, greater security, and compliance issues all make private cloud a more attractive option than the public variety. A report from Technology Business Research (TBR) has recorded that whilst the public cloud has grown at an already phenomenal 20 percent year-on-year — a trend set to continue for some years to come — the private cloud is expected to grow at an even more phenomenal 40 to 50 percent.

The private cloud market has burgeoned from $8 billion (£5.2 billion) in 2010 to $32 billion (£20.8 billion) in 2013, and it is expected to reach $69 billion (£45 billion) by 2018. According to TBR, 70 percent of businesses with 1,000+ employees are looking at managed private cloud services, whilst the remainder will be going down the self-built route. The idea of keeping mission-critical data and applications in an ubiquitously available location has enormous potential for business productivity.

But with any private cloud, whether entirely private or hybrid, it is absolutely key that the locations hosting the various elements of the provision are connected with the fastest, lowest-latency connections available.

In the past, the Wide Area Network (WAN) has been based on technologies that are significantly different to the Local Area Network, and also significantly slower. Frame relay, ATM and leased lines have been the main traditional connection options for the WAN.

But none have anything like the performance of the LAN, unless significant amounts are spent, and achieving performance even vaguely close is likely to be prohibitively expensive for all but the largest enterprises.

ATM running over SDH/SONET can operate at up to 38.5Gbits/sec, but the cost of this kind of connection is in the realm of telecommunications providers only. An individual company’s WAN connection on a legacy system is likely to be a few hundred megabytes at most, and probably much less.

THE VARYING NEEDS OF CLOUD SERVICES The poor performance of a traditional WAN has major implications. Some private cloud services are more susceptible to a slow connection than others, and in different ways.

Cloud storage, for example, won’t be particularly sensitive to latency. Users won’t be too upset if their file transfer takes a few milliseconds longer to start this time compared to the last time they accessed the service.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 26 However, bandwidth could be a different matter, particularly if the files stored are large. If files take too long to download, users will tend to keep local copies on multiple machines, which can then get out of synchronization, negating the value of the cloud storage service, because users will no longer have ubiquitous access to the latest versions of the files. They may end up using the wrong version, which could entail extra expense to remedy.

Audiovisual applications, on the other hand, can require both significant bandwidth and low levels of latency. Video conferencing will particularly necessitate both when more than a couple of people are involved simultaneously.

Since every participant will be sending a stream as well as receiving everyone else’s, potentials for slowdown soon add up. Video is incredibly hungry for bandwidth. In 2014, 78 percent of Internet bandwidth was video, and Cisco Systems Inc. is predicting this will rise to 84 percent by 2018.

Although this is primarily fuelled by consumption of video for entertainment, its use in business is increasing too. A survey by Wainhouse Research showed that 94 percent of businesses found video conferencing increased productivity, with a similar number saying it improved the impact of discussions, facilitated decision-making, and reduced travel costs.

So video is set to be an increasing burden on the WAN connection. Although real-time voice applications are nowhere near as bandwidth-hungry as video, they are even more susceptible to latency. Just a few dropouts can render a conversation unintelligible.

Other software as a service (SaaS) is also likely to be very latency sensitive, even when its raw need for data throughput is less. Although AJAX-style programming can mean the software itself is able to run locally, with minimal network calls, there will still be the need for regular saving of files, and delays on this could have a major impact on the user’s perception of how responsive a cloud-based application feels.

On the other hand, a cloud-based virtual desktop will have a greater need of both bandwidth and low latency whenever the user performs activities that change the screen contents, such as scrolling through a web page, but much less when very little is happening on the display window. So requirements can be very spiky, and this needs to be taken into account.

Of course, the issues are not with just what kind of cloud services a single user is calling upon, but the overall usage behavior of the entire network. A blend of different services will be in use, and a decision will therefore need to be made whether the WAN connection caters for the average requirements, a worst case scenario of heavy utilization, or somewhere in between.

Monitoring of usage will be a necessity to see how often the top spikes occur and how they affect the various applications in use.

If times of saturated bandwidth are likely to have a negative effect on mission-critical cloud-based applications, the WAN will need to be specified for this top end of requirements, and it would be beneficial to be able to vary this dynamically to meet regular peak periods.

THE ETHERNET WAN ADVANTAGE Whatever the usage pattern of your WAN, the more bandwidth and lower the latency you can get, the better.

This is where Ethernet has been having a significant impact. Not only can it supply bandwidth more cheaply than the traditional technologies, but also potentially with lower latency thanks to the ability to keep the Ethernet protocol intact from end to end across the network.

The incumbent WAN technologies have different packet structures and frame sizes compared to Ethernet, requiring translation, which will cause extra latency. The interfaces between Ethernet and WAN technologies like SDH/SONET or traditional leased lines are also significantly more expensive than those for an Ethernet WAN, since the latter can use a lot of generic Ethernet components that will be cheap due to their mass production.

An Ethernet WAN has other advantages, too. The Carrier Ethernet 2.0 standard has brought with it technologies that are particularly beneficial for the private cloud. One of the key methods for getting the most out of the connection speed available is to shape traffic using priorities for different data types.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 27 Carrier Ethernet 2.0 introduced support for multiple classes of service (Multi-CoS), which makes this possible. This is also enabled across different vendor infrastructures that have been connected via the E-Access service type.

This service type was introduced, again with Carrier Ethernet 2.0, to allow a service to span the infrastructure of multiple vendors, providing the ability to guarantee a level of service as the connection traverses multiple networks.

In tandem with this, Carrier Ethernet 2.0 has expanded the ability to monitor and manage the connection. This includes fault detection and correction, as well as performance monitoring.

It’s also possible to increase service levels dynamically, when more bandwidth is required to meet the needs of the users and applications being accessed over the connection. This may not even necessitate a change in hardware, with the cabling and interfaces already able to handle the extra data flow.

The service framework for Carrier Ethernet 2.0 specifically allows for this dynamic allocation both up and down in an automated fashion.

THE NEED FOR WAN ACCELERATION Now that so many companies are turning to the private cloud to provide a more dynamic and flexible provision of services, there is an increasing need for faster, lower latency WAN connections.

Legacy technologies are not able to provide the low-cost bandwidth that is necessary for these services to achieve their full potential across the range of company sizes that are hoping to take advantage of this technology.

For private cloud adoption to achieve the growth that is being predicted, an alternative technology is necessary, and an Ethernet WAN is the most likely candidate.

It can provide the bandwidth and cost characteristics necessary to accelerate the capabilities of private cloud services.

This article was originally published on IT Pro Portal.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 28 DEEP DIVE: CARRIER ETHERNET

Carrier Ethernet is an expansive technology that offers enterprises the ability to connect and communicate throughout their networks. Using high-bandwidth connections, Carrier Ethernet allows companies to avoid complex configuration and slow Internet speeds. There are many advantages to implementing Carrier Ethernet connectivity, but the technology’s ability to scale with growing network connectivity needs might be the most impressive.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 29 CARRIER OPPORTUNITIES: HOW TO EXPAND THE POTENTIAL OF ETHERNET OUTSIDE THE WAN JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

Thanks to ubiquitous corporate Ethernet and WiFi, we can happily share files with other users in the office, and make use of network resources almost as if they are running locally. Server-based applications can be accessed without a noticeable difference in performance compared to desktop-based applications. But resources outside the local area network have traditionally been a different story. Even if these were still resources located elsewhere on the corporate intranet, the wide area network (WAN) connection would most likely have been the weak link that made the resources far less pleasant to use. While the WAN connection has been upgraded to Ethernet-grade performance too over the years, which has improved the experience considerably, that still leaves resources that sit outside the WAN in the same boat. Fortunately, Ethernet has the potential to grow into this area as well, with similarly positive results. In this feature, we explore the possibilities.

FROM TRADITIONAL WAN TO WIDE AREA ETHERNET Before the advent of the Ethernet WAN, slower technologies were used for the connections between LANs. These would typically be MPLS, T1/E1, ATM, Frame Relay, DSL and X.25. Not only are these technologies slower than Gigabit Ethernet in terms of bandwidth — typically offering only up to 150Mbits/sec shared between all users — expensive Layer 3 switching gear will also be required to convert the Layer 2 Ethernet of a corporate LAN to the Layer 3 WAN carrier protocol, and then back again to the Layer 2 Ethernet LAN at the other end. This switching introduces its own delays to the equation, which can affect the usability of latency-sensitive applications like remote desktops. The extra Layer 3 devices increase the chances of reliability issues as well, due to the complexity involved with the protocol switching.

Turning to Ethernet for WAN connectivity instead has alleviated these issues. Over fiber, Ethernet has a range of up to 40km (25mi), and bandwidth can be anywhere from 1Gbit/sec to even 100Gbits/sec. On top of the relative bandwidth benefits of an Ethernet WAN, it also only requires Layer 2 switching gear, which will be variants on the same equipment already in use for the LAN. The ubiquity of Ethernet in the enterprise, and its use for over 30 years, mean that the components involved will generally be a lot cheaper than other WAN connectivity options. Network administrators will already be familiar with setting up and managing WAN Ethernet protocols, too, as this will be essentially the same as the Ethernet used on the LAN.

On top of this, management and implementation will be simpler. Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) allow all the WAN technologies in use to be brought together into one logical Ethernet LAN. Pseudo-wire emulation means that legacy packet-switching networks can be operated as Ethernet, enabling Quality of Service (QoS) profiles to be set up so that bandwidth-sensitive applications like video and audio get the throughput they require. Keeping data within Layer 2 also allows multicast video streaming without the need for a specialist redesign of the network. So an Ethernet WAN pays dividends on a number of different levels compared to the technologies traditionally in use, ranging from bandwidth and price to ease of management and configuration.

TO THE WAN AND BEYOND But an equally large benefit can be obtained from deploying Ethernet beyond the WAN. When Carrier Ethernet 2.0 was launched by the Metro Ethernet Forum in early 2012, it expanded the possibilities enormously. The first set of standards bundled into Carrier Ethernet 1.0 were primarily focused on a single provider’s network, specifying E-Line point-to-point connections and E-LAN multipoint-to-multipoint connections. These have eased the implementation of the Ethernet WAN for a single company, as E-LAN can connect multiple locations and even carry multiple, separate networks over the same cabling infrastructure. But Carrier Ethernet 1.0 didn’t turn Ethernet into a commodity service that could be extended beyond a single vendor. In contrast, the second version of the standard means that the benefits of Ethernet don’t need to stop where the WAN does.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 30 THE IMPORTANCE OF E-ACCESS One of the most significant new features defined by Carrier Ethernet 2.0 that raises it beyond WAN usage is E-Access. This turns Ethernet into a service that can be provided as a commodity. The MEF 33 standard, part of Carrier Ethernet 2.0, defines how each customer’s data can be tunneled securely across the service provider’s network. However, it’s the Multiple Class of Service (Multi-CoS) capability of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 that allows the service provider to preserve different bandwidth profiles and service level agreements alongside each other for different customers, while their data shares the same cabling infrastructure. These priorities remain intact as the data is transferred between LANs. They will also be preserved across service providers. This is a key feature, because it means that a company won’t need to have the same service provider at all its locations, expanding the geographic reach of Ethernet-based networking still further.

One of the driving forces behind the need to deploy Ethernet beyond the LAN and WAN is the growth in adoption of cloud-based services. This has made the requirement for guaranteed SLAs even more intense, as well as the necessity of operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) tools to ensure the performance of business applications. These can operate at the service layer, link layer and at the local Ethernet virtual interface level. So service providers can drill down from the wider service right to the individual customer’s service instance in search of a problem. Carrier Ethernet 2.0 specifically offers support for this. As a result, more dependable cloud services can be provided, because faults and performance issues can be detected and solutions worked out or failures routed around, in order to maintain the service level agreement. The OAM tools will also mean the dynamic provision of new services can be more easily monitored. The cloud services are often being delivered between service providers and their end users directly using Ethernet, without the Internet in between, with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure both being delivered in this way by customer demand.

MOBILE BACKHAUL AND BANDWIDTH FLEXIBILITY Another key area beyond the WAN is in mobile backhaul, which again has gained considerably improved support in the Carrier Ethernet 2.0 specification. Ethernet has been used for mobile backhaul since Carrier Ethernet 1.0, making it a primary underlying technology for the mobile data revolution that has become so important in the last few years. The Multi-CoS capability in Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is fundamental here too, as it allows different types of mobile traffic to be given various levels of Quality of Service allocation while sharing the networking infrastructure. For example, voice data can be prioritized, so it will always be possible to make a phone call despite heavy data usage. There’s also specific support with Carrier Ethernet 2.0 for the latest 4G/LTE mobile data standards, the bandwidth requirements of which make Ethernet-based backbone infrastructure even more essential. Here, Ethernet’s ability to extend service beyond the WAN also makes for improved service outside the wired Ethernet infrastructure itself, in the fast-growing mobile data arena.

Essentially, the utility of the intranet can be extended well beyond the traditional limits of the WAN. The increased bandwidth and simplicity go hand-in-hand with the increased demand for these features from cloud services as mentioned earlier, but also from video and voice data. Consumer usage of video now uses over half of total global Internet bandwidth. To combat this kind of bandwidth-hungry service, the ease of Ethernet implementation makes the infrastructure highly scalable. The same cabling can support services from 1Mbit/ sec to 100Gbits/sec, with configuration at the end point able to alter the provision dynamically as required. This means that customers can be provided with bandwidth that accurately meets their needs. They won’t need to pay for a high-throughput service they don’t use, but it can readily be provided when they do require it.

THE RELENTLESS GROWTH OF CARRIER ETHERNET All these factors have led to a phenomenal growth in the spending on Carrier Ethernet services since the Metro Ethernet Forum was formed in 2001. Infonetics expects a total of £110 billion ($175 billion) to have been spent on Carrier Ethernet equipment between 2012 and 2016, arguing that £19 billion ($30 billion) was spent in 2011 alone. The amount of global business bandwidth contributed by Ethernet services surpassed that of legacy systems in 2012, and the contribution is expected to reach 75 percent by 2017. The growth rate is likely to slow as most legacy systems are replaced, but the increasing demand for data shows no signs of abating. According to Cisco, fixed Internet connection bandwidth requirements will have grown on average at a rate of 32 percent every year between 2010 and 2015. Mobile data usage will have grown by an average 92 percent every year.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 31 Ethernet may not be the panacea for all our networking bandwidth woes. But it’s clear that the flexibility and ubiquity of the technology, particularly since the advent of the Carrier Ethernet 2.0 set of standards, means that it has a major role to play in coping with our exploding need for increased networking bandwidth over increasingly wide areas. Previous WAN technologies were mostly developed to satisfy the slow increase in demand for voice communications. The relatively rapid arrival of more generalized data needs in the last couple of decades, and the particularly throughput-hungry nature of video, cloud services and remote desktop virtualization has meant that alternatives to previous WAN technologies were essential, and Ethernet has fitted the requirements most closely. But Carrier Ethernet 2.0 has also allowed Ethernet to go beyond merely upgrading the WAN, to provide LAN-like high-bandwidth services across even greater geographical areas, and to gain the full potential from the latest mobile data technologies as well.

This article originally appeared on ITProPortal.com.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 32 HOW CARRIER ETHERNET CAN SIMPLIFY YOUR NETWORK MANAGEMENT SIMON WILLIAMS — TECHNOLOGY WRITER

A business is no longer just about connecting up all the resources within one building.

Companies beyond a certain size will almost certainly have multiple locations, which will require linking up as seamlessly as possible, so that they appear and function as one enterprise to employees in all premises.

But this process can be complicated by the heterogeneous technologies that will be required outside of the building, necessitating expertise that could be beyond the skills of everyday network administrative staff.

In this feature, we look at how Carrier Ethernet can greatly reduce this complexity and facilitate the management of a network that goes beyond the bounds of the local area.

THE WIDER PERSPECTIVE A corporate LAN in a single building will use a relatively homogeneous infrastructure, both in terms of the cabling and the setup.

Most of the wiring will be category 5 or category 6 copper, with possibly a fibrotic backbone if traffic requires it. This will support an Ethernet IP network in most cases, running through strategically placed switching gear to manage the communications between individual devices, and between these devices and shared resources such as email and storage servers.

There will also be switching gear serving departments and network segments. But the client devices, servers, switches, wireless access points, and other devices on the network will all communicate over Ethernet, and any remote management tools will use this protocol too.

As a result of this uniformity, internally the network will present a single packet-based system. However, once you start thinking about connecting one building to another over any significant distance, all of this can go out the window, almost literally.

The Ethernet wiring could be fed into a specialized interface that will convert the packet structure to Frame Relay, ATM, or even legacy X.25. SONET/SDH could be another, more contemporary choice for large corporations. All of these have different frame structures to Ethernet, requiring the packets to be transformed at one end of the connection, and then transformed back to Ethernet when they reach their destination.

An Ethernet packet has a header and a payload, with the former transmitted before the latter, and then some CRC error correction code. But SONET/SDH interleaves the header and payload information, and whilst ATM, frame relay and X.25 also use packet-like frames, their structure is different to Ethernet.

An Ethernet Type II frame consists of a 14-byte header and a 4-byte CRC checksum, but the data payload can be anywhere from 46 to 1,500 bytes. An ATM cell, on the other hand, has a 5-byte header and 48-byte payload, whilst frame relay uses variable-size frames like Ethernet, but these will contain at least 1,600 bytes and often more, so they can transport multiple Ethernet packets. Frame relay also leaves the error correction to the packets it is transporting, rather than having this built into its own structure.

In other words, all of these systems will require the Ethernet data to be either aggregated or split up before it can be transmitted. The respective hardware interfaces will do this, but their optimal configuration will require specialist knowledge, both of the system used and how to optimize it for the kind of traffic mostly likely to be transferred from the LAN.

This is beyond a regular level of expertise in LAN configuration. A specialist will need to be employed to set the configuration up — and then re-employed when things go wrong or need changing — or extra staff with the necessary skills will be required. Since the protocol transformation entails a potential bottleneck on performance, optimization will be necessary here, too, in order to minimize the effect.

Expensive hardware, pricey expertise, and costly monthly fees all limit who can implement and manage these kinds of connections.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 33 ETHERNET ALL THE WAY DOWN This is where using a Carrier Ethernet connection for wide area networking comes in. Although there are still many other technologies for hooking up your wide area network, including the ones mentioned above, Carrier Ethernet has been a rising star for a number of years now.

In fact, the bandwidth available to businesses globally from Carrier Ethernet already surpassed legacy systems in 2012, according to Vertical Systems Group. By 2017, it is predicted that more than three-quarters of global bandwidth will come from Ethernet, whereas in 2003 legacy services accounted for 93 percent.

Although Carrier Ethernet will still require special interfaces to connect the LAN to the outside world, these are based around Ethernet technology, and therefore are far less complicated. This makes them cheaper than their legacy alternatives, and their configuration is an extension of configuring regular LAN resources, although there are Carrier Ethernet-specific management methods here.

Adoption has been accelerated thanks to the Multiple Class of Service (Multi-CoS) capabilities of Carrier Ethernet 2.0, and the E-Access service type introduced alongside it.

The former allows a service to be provided that defines quality of service levels for different types of data. The latter means that a connection can traverse the cabling infrastructure of multiple vendors, whilst maintaining a single service level agreement. This has enabled a wider availability of Carrier Ethernet, since a company won’t need to have the same provider covering all its locations.

But whilst these features extend the flexibility of Carrier Ethernet, it’s the manageability that makes this type of connection particularly attractive as a LAN extension.

The Carrier Ethernet 2.0 standard includes a whole host of specifications for enabling and enhancing Operations, Administration and Management (OAM). These extend across an entire Carrier Ethernet connection, even when it spans the infrastructure of multiple vendors, and allow the administrator to monitor performance, diagnose issues, and then fix them.

For example, if there is a problem from a drop in service, the culprit cabling or setting can be pinpointed, and then a fix organized. The Service OAM definitions for Carrier Ethernet 2.0 are based on IEEE 802.1Q-2011 for connectivity fault management and ITU-T Y.1731-2011 for fault management and performance monitoring, making them part of wider international standards.

The Service OAM capabilities of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 are expressed in three main specifications from the Metro Ethernet Forum — MEF 17, 30 and 35. The MEF 17 standard sets out the overall framework for OAM, defining the high-level constructs used to model the necessary components.

It also covers the relationship between the Ethernet, Transport, and Application Service Layers as defined in the earlier MEF 4 standard, which is a generic standard for Carrier Ethernet. By providing the context for other MEF standards that define the Type 2 User Network Interface and External Network-Network Interface, which are integral to Carrier Ethernet infrastructure, MEF 17 also ensures that these pieces of hardware can be managed using standards-compliant tools.

This provides the ability to detect, verify, localize and receive notification of faults. It also enables performance monitoring, as well as auto-discovery of service-aware network elements within provider networks.

The MEF 30 standard focuses specifically on fault management, building on the MEF 17 framework. It defines how Maintenance Entity Groups can be set up to focus on a particular section or transport path in the OAM domain, based on the IEEE and ITU-T specifications mentioned earlier.

MEF 30 compliance means services conform to the necessary fault management standards. The MEF 35 standard, in contrast, is all about performance management and defines specific measurement procedures as well as specifying solutions for collecting the information needed to compute performance metrics.

These in turn rely on the MEF 10.2 and 10.2.1 standards for Carrier Ethernet performance measuring, which allow precise service level specifications to be created. As we already explained, these OAM abilities extend both within a single provider’s network and across multiple providers, so faults and performance can be detected even when they are on infrastructure that uses an E-Access connection. This ensures that the service level agreement can be guaranteed.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 34 The net result of all these standards is the ability to provide all-encompassing tools such as Ciena’s Ethernet Service Management platform, which puts all deployment and monitoring in one place.

However, there are also standards to streamline the implementation of Carrier Ethernet services in the first place, and these allow tools of this nature to enable users to efficiently build and deploy their Carrier Ethernet services. The standards for implementation of new services include MEF 13, 20, 23 and 26. The MEF 13 and 20 standards define how Type 1 and Type 2 User Network Interfaces are implemented, whilst MEF 26 (and its amendments) focus on the External Network Interface, for links between the infrastructures of different providers.

The MEF 23 standard, finally, is the standard for the Multi-CoS facilities, so the connection can be configured to prioritize specific types of data.

SIMPLER WITH ETHERNET There’s no doubt that setting up, configuring, monitoring, and repairing a WAN will always be more complicated than managing a regular LAN.

But where the world of legacy connections such as frame relay, ATM and SDH/SONET can be an alien one to everyday networking knowledge, a Carrier Ethernet deployment is at least based on a familiar technology for most systems administrators.

With a full set of standards for OAM, Carrier Ethernet deployment and management can be aggregated into centralized tools, greatly simplifying network administration.

This article was originally published on IT Pro Portal.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 35 IMPROVING THE ENTERPRISE NETWORK WITH CARRIER ETHERNET JOHN HAWKINS — SENIOR ADVISOR, PRODUCT AND TECHNICAL MARKETING AT CIENA

Beginning in the early 2000s, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) pioneered the development of Carrier Ethernet — Ethernet for use in wide-area networks (WANs) — by classifying several significant carrier-grade attributes that distinguish it from the more familiar enterprise local-area network (LAN) Ethernet. Since then, the well-documented success of Carrier Ethernet services worldwide has many of today’s IT managers looking to find out how this technology can be used in the context of their own WANs.

For most small to medium-sized enterprises and government agencies, a carrier-managed Ethernet service is the most cost-effective and low-risk approach to site interconnection, cloud access, data center interconnection, direct Internet access, and other data-centric applications. But Carrier Ethernet services are also an option for those who operate their own infrastructures by preference or necessity.

THE CAMPUS NETWORK Many large IT departments are responsible for supporting voice, data, and video applications in a campus environment. These environments usually include a grouping of physical locations, often housing hundreds, if not thousands, of employees, partners, students, and similar end-users across a given service area or campus. The networks serve multiple buildings, laboratories, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, or field sites, often with multiple communities of end-users with varying network demands.

They may or may not be “billed customers,” depending on individual accounting practices and the general nature of the enterprise. Nonetheless, end-users’ expectations from the network must be met to maintain smooth operation.

THE ENTERPRISE WAN More specialized IT networks can be seen in industry segments such as utilities, municipal government, military bases, regional hospital systems, and many others. The common requirement among these is the need to control some or several technical aspects of the network. Reasons might include:

• A heightened level of concern for network security (such as network command and control) • The need to control and monitor application-specific network parameters (such as bandwidth, priority, latency, loss) • The need to closely integrate end applications with network designs (such as video monitoring) • A desire to monetize or derive competitive advantage from the owned infrastructure

DRIVERS FOR CHANGE The drivers for change in both of these environments boils down to the need to support the explosive growth of bandwidth usage by end-users, especially in terms of video and other rich media content transmission and distribution, as well as machine-to-machine communications driven by the “Internet of Things.” The great majority of this content, along with critical enterprise applications, now resides in a mixture of private and public cloud data centers and must be accessible at all times.

The network manager is at the front-lines of supporting a variety of demands, including increasing proliferation of mobile technologies and related Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, business intelligence systems, and big data analytics, as well as cloud-based infrastructure and application hosting. The conventional response has been to continually add increasingly complex functionality into traditional Layer 3 (L3)-based router platforms. This approach adds significant cost and complexity to an already costly platform as today’s

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 36 IP/MPLS routers are among the most capital-intensive parts of the enterprise infrastructure, both in terms of capital and operational expenditures (CAPEX and OPEX). They require frequent and costly upgrades to keep pace with bandwidth and scale requirements. New features are slow to emerge and often do not interoperate in a multi-vendor environment, thereby requiring extensive and time- consuming testing cycles — along with very specialized technical personnel — before deployment in the “active” network. At the same time, the number of users dependent on the network for reliable access to growing numbers of applications continues to grow steadily.

THE BOTTOM LINE Enterprise IT teams are in an arms race to keep up with end-user demands that require scaling the network, keeping it safe and maintaining five nines reliability, lest end-users themselves roll out their own solutions. The network has become critical to business, entertainment, healthcare, public safety, energy delivery, national defense, and virtually every area of everyday life. In my next post, I’ll address how enterprise and government entities can improve their networks and control costs by leveraging Layer 2 Carrier Ethernet technology.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 37 CONTROLLING COSTS IN THE ENTERPRISE NETWORK: LAYER 2 VS. LAYER 3 JOHN HAWKINS — SENIOR ADVISOR, PRODUCT AND TECHNICAL MARKETING AT CIENA

In my last blog, I explained how the perfect storm of increased bandwidth, higher reliance on the network, and unbounded cost of the infrastructure is creating a headache for enterprise and government agency technology managers. Whether managing a campus network or specialized enterprise wide area network (WAN), cost control is a paramount concern as IT budgets are under constant pressure and return on investment is routinely scrutinized. In this blog, I’ll address how enterprise and government organizations can get their costs under control.

While the first generation of packet infrastructure has been based on extending pre-existing Layer 3 (L3) routed infrastructure, today’s challenges have called into question the complexity of continually throwing more routers at the problem. Given the extensive use of Ethernet as a link-layer in most LANs, the use of Layer 2 (L2) technologies for campus and the WAN is gaining a lot of attention.

The use of L3 infrastructure for transporting IP application traffic to mitigate the problem simply adds complexity and cost that ultimately are redundant to the L2 transport function provided by Carrier Ethernet. In contrast, an L2 network architecture ideally suits the creation of a rich menu of IP-based applications, whether L3 services such as IP-based VPNs and VPLS connections, or simply L2 transport of L3 functions such as Web access, video transmission, or data center connectivity. In other words, use of an L2-based infrastructure does not preclude support of IP applications; on the contrary, it complements it nicely while significantly simplifying the overall network and providing overall cost savings.

In fact, generalized studies indicate the lower the layer technology, the simpler the hardware, the fewer modalities of operation, and hence, the lower the cost.

An L3 infrastructure requires routers at all sites, while L2 can make use of Ethernet switches with a subset of the router functionality. For instance, MPLS-TP provides a simpler but robust set of functions, giving network operators improved price/performance alternatives. A broad portfolio of right-sized Ethernet switches with carrier-class functions and attributes provides the best of both worlds at an optimized cost-point.

Future strategies will see further application cost reduction and network simplification, with the introduction of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). NFV is the concept of replacing proprietary hardware appliances such as routing, encryption, and firewalls with software-based versions that run on low-cost server hardware and can be flexibly chained together to form unique services. A simpler, converged L2 network can thereby support L3-L7 applications.

By continuing to add router capacity to scale and support new applications, IT managers are incurring unnecessary capital and operational costs (CAPEX/OPEX). Formal OPEX studies are hard to come by, but it is clear that installation and commissioning tasks for new services are a key component of such costs. Ethernet’s simplicity has led to solutions such as Zero Touch Provisioning techniques, which allow moderately skilled field personnel to install service end-points with ease by automating the process from end-to-end, which also eliminates error-prone manual operations.

Remote configuration and service turn-up and testing also allow high confidence that the right parameters have been established for each connection and that the end-user or application is receiving the requisite Quality of Service (QoS). Looking toward the future, the adoption of software-defined networking (SDN) portends well for the simple forwarding architecture supported at L2 to be controlled by a centralized software entity.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 38 THE BOTTOM LINE Enterprises and government agencies are increasingly drawn to Carrier Ethernet WAN infrastructure to control costs and ensure business processes can scale effectively, while maintaining security and control over critical network functions. Network resources are easily shared among many end-user communities, and new applications can be introduced quickly without network redesigns. In my next blog, I’ll take a closer look at the key advantages of using Ethernet in the WAN or campus network.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 39 HOW CARRIER ETHERNET HELPS MID-SIZED BUSINESSES EMBRACE THE CLOUD COMCAST BUSINESS

Agile responses to changing market conditions and a fierce focus on cost control have long been hallmarks of small to mid-sized businesses. As these organizations operate in increasingly competitive environments, they are being forced to become more nimble and efficient than ever.

The cloud has emerged as a key vehicle for meeting business’ needs to control IT costs while improving productivity. By hosting infrastructure, platforms, and software in shared facilities, smaller businesses are realizing IT economies of scale that were previously reserved for larger companies. TCO, disaster recovery options, and operational flexibility all improve in a cloud environment.

YOUR CONNECTION TO THE CLOUD MATTERS As businesses move IT assets to the cloud, however, they also become much more dependent on the connection to those cloud-based services. What good does it do to have your applications and critical data out in the cloud if you can’t access them, or if the connection isn’t fast enough to allow the cloud-based services to function properly? Cloud-based services are only as good as the connection to the cloud itself.

THE CARRIER ETHERNET SOLUTION Carrier Ethernet has emerged as an exceptional solution for last-mile access to cloud services. When delivered over modern, fiber- centric, last-mile networks, Ethernet provides 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps — or even 10 Gbps — at a fraction of the operating cost of legacy TDM-based solutions. In addition, Ethernet offers the ability to quickly and easily scale up connection speeds with a simple phone call to your carrier — usually without requiring a service visit from a technician. Best of all, it delivers this flexibility and price performance without sacrificing quality of manageability. Finally, as more businesses utilize cloud-based services, security is raised as a concern for the mission-critical data traveling to and from the data center. Ethernet offers customers a secure layer 2 network connection, thereby meeting the security challenge without the expense and complexity of legacy TDM private line solutions.

Ethernet is replacing legacy T1 and other TDM technologies for businesses, similar to the way that broadband technology displaced dial- up lines in the residential arena.

DESIGNED FOR HIGH-BANDWIDTH NETWORKS Carrier Ethernet’s critical advantage heralds from its roots as a data-centric protocol designed with high-bandwidth networks in mind. Many of the competing legacy technologies come from a voice-centric era dominated by low-bandwidth copper networks. T1s, originally developed by the Bell system to carry phone calls and later repurposed to carry data and Internet traffic, were long considered the “gold standard” of networking. While T1s are reliable, they are also expensive and deliver negligible bandwidth (1.5 Mbps).

Adding bandwidth is an expensive, time-consuming chore that requires “bonding” additional T1s together in increments of 1.5 Mbps. In an era when most cable consumers get over 10 Mbps to their homes, the T1’s cost and complexity simply make it a tool of a bygone age.

Other legacy technologies, notably frame relay services (FRS), are more flexible and data-centric. Unfortunately, they still stumble because FRS is generally carried on top of a T1 or DS3 circuit. While FRS adds management flexibility, it still remains expensive and bandwidth-constrained due to the underlying copper network transport.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 40 As the cloud heats up, the market is rapidly adopting Carrier Ethernet’s superior performance. The quantum leap in capacity, performance and speed from Ethernet allows businesses to take advantage of other bandwidth-intensive services like videoconferencing and business continuity/disaster recovery, as well as other converged voice, video and data services that employees may need.

Mid-sized organizations looking to the cloud to reduce IT costs and boost efficiencies should consider taking advantage of high- performance Carrier Ethernet to give them the capacity needed to connect to the cloud today, tomorrow, and well into the future.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 41 ETHERNET BUYER’S GUIDE

Now that you know everything there is to know about Ethernet technology, it’s time to decide what’s right for your business. The following articles outline the best methods for deciding on an Ethernet service that’s right for you.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 42 MAKING THE RIGHT NETWORK DECISION FOR YOUR ENTERPRISE NEEDS WAYNE RASH — TECHNOLOGY WRITER

The fact is that every company’s networking needs are different. Because of this, there’s no single solution for networking beyond the borders of the building. In fact, some companies may need more than one solution because of their diverse needs.

• Standard office communications, even among distant locations, usually require an Ethernet connection. This allows you to use existing networking infrastructure and security solutions without having to add personnel skills or additional hardware.

• Most storage traffic, including iSCSI communications with storage area networks, will (or at least can) work with Ethernet, which helps control costs and retains flexibility.

• A virtualized computing environment requires Ethernet under normal circumstances. While virtualized drivers for other protocols and adapters may exist, Ethernet is the default for every virtualized environment and operating system.

• A campus-networking environment nearly always requires Ethernet, except in specialized applications where very high bandwidth and low latency are required.

• Some specialized applications, such as data center mirroring or storage mirroring, require very high bandwidth, coupled with very low latency. These can only be achieved with a direct fiber connection, which can include dark fiber and may include wavelength services. Normally these applications are distance limited due to propagation delays.

• Long distance communications, such as undersea or transcontinental links, require alternatives to Ethernet between metropolitan areas. However, they can be provided by the network service provider and likely are transparent to the end user.

• Dark fiber and wavelength services require the acquisition of geographically diverse network paths to avoid a single point of failure if the fiber cable is damaged. Ethernet services may provide redundancy as part of the package.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 43 SHOPPING FOR AN ETHERNET SERVICE PROVIDER? HERE ARE FOUR THINGS TO CONSIDER. COMCAST BUSINESS

By linking key locations via Ethernet, businesses can avoid the bottlenecks and security breaches that plague the public Internet. Traffic that otherwise might have taken a convoluted route, via a patchwork of networks, can now flow more efficiently to its destination over a dedicated low-latency connection. Over the Internet, your mission-critical traffic has to queue up behind all other data from all other users. With a private Ethernet line, contention is reduced because your packets travel securely over a well-maintained private path, managed and monitored by a single provider. And with the Class of Service (CoS) capability inherent in Ethernet, different traffic types on the same circuit can be identified and prioritized so the data packets that should get preference do get preference. That’s an experience that the Internet, or older technologies like T1, can never deliver because to both of them all data packets look the same.

But realizing the full potential of Ethernet means taking one extra step: partnering with the right provider. With a single vendor managing the crucial connections to your office, cloud providers, and backup facilities, you’ll want to be sure that it has the depth of experience, and resources, to deliver on the Ethernet promise.

How do you choose the right provider? The following tips can help:

• Look at the provider’s track record and footprint. You’ll want a provider that has made a name for itself delivering top-tier Ethernet service. Asking a few simple questions can help you hone in on these vendors. Who are its customers? How broad is its geographic reach? How extensive is its Ethernet infrastructure? Then check which service providers, if any, are connected to your building. If a provider needs to bring fiber into your building, you’ll want one with lots of experience doing that, which translates into speed and cost-effectiveness. A provider who can span wide distances via Ethernet — and has successfully served a long list of customers — is a much better choice than an unproven upstart, or one with a limited operating area. Look beyond the brand, too. If a company views Ethernet as simply a “sideline” and not a core part of its business, it doesn’t matter how well known its name may be.

• Ask about the technologies and tools the provider uses to manage the network. The best providers are obsessive about network management, continually monitoring latency, or the time it takes packets to travel between two points. Carriers will tell you what their latency measurements are, but make sure you know what’s being measured so you can compare two competitors’ measurements. For example, one competitor might only measure latency as an average across its entire core network, but not measure that last leg all the way to your building — the leg that probably matters most to you. Also ask about their proactive monitoring, or how they detect and correct potential problems before they turn into trouble. Carriers that spot problems before their customers notice them should move to the top of the list. Pay particular attention to providers that offer Carrier Ethernet, and even better Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (as defined by the international Metro Ethernet Forum). It leverages advanced monitoring and management features to boost network reliability and performance, and ensures that service-level guarantees are met.

• Look for flexible, scalable solutions. You don’t want to be locked into a service that won’t easily support your company’s growth, or can’t quickly scale up and down with seasonal spikes in business. Flexibility is key.

• Demand 24/7 support and full-featured reporting tools. Your Ethernet provider should not only know how to care for its network, but also its customers. That means you should be able to reach a support professional whenever trouble — or simply a question — arises. It also means being able to access intuitive, informative reporting tools.

No matter what provider you choose, the relationship should be a partnership: open, transparent, collaborative — and mutually beneficial.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 44 T-1 OR ETHERNET: A SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON COMCAST BUSINESS

Internet connectivity is a critical component of business operations. You need to understand the options when it comes to connectivity choices so that you can make the right decision for your business. Today, that often means deciding between T-1 and Ethernet. Both provide dedicated Internet access (DIA) service, but they are different in the way they are designed and delivered. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of T-1 and Ethernet to help you understand the differences in delivery and speed, costs, and scalability.

DELIVERY AND SPEED

T-1 T-1 DIA service is delivered over either a single T-1 circuit (1.5 Mbps) or multiple bonded T-1 circuits and requires a router with T-1 WAN interfaces or ports. The WAN router typically provides a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port to connect to your router or an available Ethernet port on your Ethernet LAN switch.

ETHERNET Ethernet DIA service is delivered over a single Ethernet fiber optic connection to offer any amount of bandwidth from 2 Mbps to 10 Gbps, typically providing either a 10/100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, or 10 Gbps Ethernet port from an Ethernet DIA service demarcation device used to attach your router. The Ethernet port speed you select will depend on your initial bandwidth requirements and your anticipated incremental needs for the duration of the service agreement. Note that, unlike T-1-based DIA services that operate at the 1.5-Mbps-speed of the T-1 circuit, Ethernet DIA services are not offered based on the circuit speed but can be purchased in bandwidth increments up to the Ethernet port speed.

COSTS

T-1 In order to keep entry costs low and eliminate interoperability issues, the T-1 service provider will include a router on which the T1 circuit(s) terminate(s). The monthly recurring cost for T-1 service depends on the number of T-1 circuits deployed.

ETHERNET The Ethernet DIA service demarcation device is included in the initial setup cost. If you can use an available Ethernet port on your router, this eliminates capital expense required to connect the service. If your building does not have a fiber optic connection, your Ethernet DIA service provider will deliver it at a one-time cost. There is a monthly recurring charge based on the amount of bandwidth your organization requires.

SCALABILITY

T-1 If you need more bandwidth — which is purchased in 1.5 Mbps increments — you may be required to purchase new T1 interfaces to support the bonding of the additional T-1 circuits, if not a new router altogether. Typically there will be another set-up cost in addition to

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 45 the higher monthly recurring costs for the additional bandwidth. When Internet capacity requirements approach 12-15 Mbps, or 8 to 10 bonded T1s, many businesses switch to a higher-speed circuit, such as a DS3/T3. The cost of the single DS3 at 45 Mbps is about the same as 8-10 T1s, but with more than twice the bandwidth. However, switching to a DS3 will likely result in service disruption to upgrade equipment and circuits, a process which can take weeks or even months.

ETHERNET With Ethernet, you can scale your bandwidth rapidly and easily well beyond the typical ranges provided by bonded T1 configurations and DS3s without having to switch Internet access technologies or providers. Ethernet DIA capacity can be expanded so efficiently because your provider can remotely reconfigure the service demarcation device. The upgrade is accomplished transparently — at most, you may need to restart the Ethernet service demarcation device.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 46 WHAT’S NEXT FOR ETHERNET

Despite its 40 year history, Ethernet is not going away — in fact, some would argue we haven’t even begun to see what Ethernet will be capable of in the future. Ethernet has proven it offers scalable services that will grow with increasing levels of technology, so take a look at the following articles to see where Ethernet connectivity is headed.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 47 THE FUTURE OF ETHERNET COMCAST BUSINESS

Ethernet has come a long way since it was first introduced, but even now, it is just getting started.

The limits of Ethernet’s capacity are few, and as improvements in electronics have come about, Ethernet networks have evolved to offer more capacity, more availability, and have become more essential for doing business — and gaining a competitive edge. While the original Ethernet specification provided a bandwidth increment of 10 megabits per second (Mbps), the current standard is 1,000 Mbps — otherwise known as “Gigabit Ethernet.” And as always, Ethernet is all about interoperability: Different types of equipment, from different manufacturers, easily and seamlessly work together.

Gigabit Ethernet would have been almost unimaginable not too long ago, but today, virtually every device and interface connected to a network supports it — from laptops to data center servers. It’s a remarkable achievement, yet as businesses increasingly embrace new tools that drive their business, like cloud and virtualization, they’ll need even more capacity and better performance. Ethernet will deliver them.

Hardware that can support 40 and even 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is available from a few vendors, and a push for yet another once- unimaginable threshold — 400 GbE — is the subject of a standards-setting effort within theIEEE , the organization charged with creating global network technology specifications. In 2013, Comcast Business completed one of the first live network trials of a 1 Terabit optical transmission over a 620 mile circuit. That was just a trial, but the point is that unlike in the 70s and 80s, the wide area network is no longer the limiting factor in distributed computing.

Today’s businesses understand just how important the network is to their success and their growth. Cloud services, e-commerce, business continuity, and the increasingly far-flung footprints of companies require robust, reliable, and low-latency connections. Businesses need a network that makes the data and applications they rely on perform like they are all in the same building — and supports fast and efficient interaction with customers and clients. They’ll need a network, too, that can grow as the traffic grows. IBM says that 90 percent of all the data that exists in the world today was created in the last two years. So expandability is critical, allowing business to meet increasing demands without sacrificing performance. Ethernet can be that dynamic network platform from which critical applications are launched and supported, today and into the future.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 48 LIFE BEGINS AT 40: HOW ETHERNET’S FUTURE COULD BE EVEN MORE GOLDEN THAN ITS PAST JAMES MORRIS — WEB MEDIA PRODUCER AND LECTURER

Ethernet has become not just the dominant standard, but the universal technology of local area networking.

If you plug a networking cable in at work or at home, it’s almost certainly going to be using Ethernet. Over its 40-year history, Ethernet has risen from contender to unopposed winner in the LAN.

But its abilities now stretch well beyond the building at hand. In this feature we look at how Ethernet is far from having a mid-life crisis now that it’s past 40 and could be about to enter an even more dominant era than it has enjoyed over the last few decades.

ETHERNET ORIGINS Like so many great computing technologies we have come to take for granted and use on an everyday basis, Ethernet has its origins in the legendary Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

Taking his inspiration from a 1970 paper about a packet-switching radio system called ALOHAnet, Robert Metcalfe built the first prototype Ethernet system at Xerox PARC, which went live on November 11th, 1973. It connected more than 100 workstations at 2.94Mbits/sec, using 1km of cable. Xerox then patented the concept in 1975.

Seeing the potential of the technology in 1979, Metcalfe left Xerox PARC to found 3Com and convinced Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox to back the nascent Ethernet standard, resulting in the IEEE 802.3 specification in 1983, which also increased the default speed to 10Mbits/sec.

However, Ethernet was competing at this time with Token Bus and Token Ring. These were initially proprietary, but ended up being standardized as IEEE 802.4 and 802.4 respectively. So Ethernet’s dominance was far from inevitability when it first arrived on the market.

Nevertheless, Ethernet had considerable advantages over both competitor technologies. Token Ring adapters were three times the price of Ethernet adapters, and later in its development Ethernet could operate over cheap unshielded twisted pair Cat 3 cabling, where both Token Ring and Token Bus required more expensive shielded coaxial wiring.

Token Bus also had a reputation for being unreliable and hard to upgrade. Although Token Ring reached 16Mbits/sec, compared to Ethernet’s 10Mbits/sec at the time, 3Com’s Ethernet adapter for the IBM PC had sold 100,000 units by 1985, just three years after its release.

The arrival of switched Ethernet, full duplex modes, and Fast Ethernet further increased the lead over Token Ring and Token Bus. Although 100Mbit/sec versions of Token Ring were marketed, Ethernet had all but taken over by the end of the 1990s.

The arrival of Gigabit Ethernet, fiber optic variants, and speeds up to 100Gbits/sec for backbone usage now mean that there is no competition for corporate networking and the ubiquity of the network hardware on PCs and Macs makes Ethernet the default wired option in the home as well.

GOING LONG DISTANCE So Ethernet has risen to complete dominance for local area networks over its forty years of existence, although its commercial availability is a decade younger than that.

However, whilst fiber optic connections have also been available for the transmission of Ethernet over considerable distances for nearly two decades, the technology remained primarily focused on connecting up systems within a single facility, rather than being called upon

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 49 for the links between facilities, or the wider Internet. Instead, specialized alternative technologies have traditionally been called upon for connections over longer distances. But these have added cost and complexity to the networking system, giving Ethernet a potential opportunity here as well.

Ethernet has always had the ability to communicate over reasonably large lengths of wiring, with even the very first prototype using 1km of copper cabling. Although Gigabit Ethernet over copper twisted pair cabling is only specified for 100m between links, fiber optic versions have allowed Ethernet to run over single connections up to 70km each.

The potential for connecting wider areas than the local with Ethernet has therefore been obvious for some years, hinting at its ability to eliminate non-native transport layers for a simpler, faster, more streamlined connection. To this end, in 1996 Nortel Networks introduced its EtherLoop technology, providing a peak of 10Mbits/sec at up to 3.7km over standard telephone wiring.

Further proprietary technologies arrived from companies such as Fibrehood Networks, as well as 10BaseS from Infineon Technologies, and Long Reach Ethernet from Cisco.

But the disparate nature of these technologies needed unification, and this led to the creation of the Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) study group in October 2000, which formed the 802.3ah working group, resulting in the IEEE 802.3ah-2004 standard.

Running in parallel to this, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) was founded in 2001 to promote standards-based Ethernet beyond the local area, and with the publication of IEEE 802.3ah-2004 the Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance (EFMA) also became part of the MEF in 2005. Since then, the MEF has become the primary body championing Ethernet technology beyond the LAN.

CARRIER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES To date, the MEF has approved over 30 technical specifications. However, these specifications have been grouped together into two primary standards, which broadly define two phases in the development of Ethernet as a generic high-bandwidth connectivity option for wide area networks, metro area networks, and Internet links. These are Carrier Ethernet versions 1.0 and 2.0.

The former was launched in 2005 and aimed at enabling standardized services to be delivered over one provider’s network; whilst the latter arrived in 2012, adding specifications for delivering multiple classes of service and manageability over interconnected provider networks.

The distinction between the two standards is significant. Whilst Carrier Ethernet 1.0 allowed a company to link two distant premises over one provider’s infrastructure, any location outside the reach of that provider’s cabling would not be able to receive the service. So Carrier Ethernet 2.0 introduced a suite of technologies that allow services to be provided that span the infrastructure of multiple vendors, greatly expanding the flexibility and reach of Ethernet.

The types of service and manageability introduced with Carrier Ethernet 1.0 were aimed at single-provider networks. The two main service types for Carrier Ethernet 1.0 are called E-Line and E-LAN.

The former defines point-to-point connections, whilst the latter defines multipoint-to-multipoint connections. There are virtual versions of both, so that multiple networks can reside on the same infrastructure without being accessible to each other. An E-Line connection can be used for Internet access, so long as the infrastructure provider has the gateway on its cabling network, and E-LAN can be used for multicasting of audiovisual content, as well as more general-purpose multipoint networking.

The management systems defined in Carrier Ethernet 1.0’s MEF 7 and 15 standards are focused on setting up and maintaining these kinds of single-vendor networks. All these facilities made Carrier Ethernet 1.0 great for metro or regional areas served by one infrastructure provider, or for use as mobile backhaul for a single provider, but the wholesale of Ethernet access services wasn’t an option.

The big addition with Carrier Ethernet 2.0 is the new E-Access service type. Unlike E-Line and E-LAN, E-Access is not about the topology of how customers connect their individual locations, but enables those connections to run across the infrastructure of multiple vendors. Multiple classes of service (Multi-CoS) can be defined, so that bandwidth- and latency-sensitive data types may be prioritized over those that are less sensitive. The manageability features have been expanded, via the MEF 16, 17, 30, and 31 standards, such that

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 50 the connection can be set up, monitored for performance and faults, and any issues pinpointed and fixed across the multiple vendor networks it traverses.

Combining all these new features together, Carrier Ethernet 2.0 allows services to be provided on a wholesale basis, so multiple vendors can offer connectivity across an infrastructure provider or multiple providers. The E-Access service type preserves the service level agreement across the various vendors involved, so customers can be confident that they get what they are paying for, with the management features ensuring that the provider can monitor and maintain the SLA.

Carrier Ethernet 2.0 also defines a new E-Tree service type, which is another flavor of multipoint connection, but this time using a rooted hub-and-spoke model where the spokes can’t access each other, only the hub. This further accentuates the appropriateness of Ethernet as an interconnect for audiovisual subscriber services, such as cable TV.

However, it’s the E-Access feature and its supplementary Multi-CoS and management facilities that make the most significant difference. By opening up the ability to run a Carrier Ethernet service across multiple vendors, the footprint of where the service can be provided is extended to combine all contiguous infrastructure networks into one area of coverage.

So instead of merely offering metro and regional networking, national and global networks can potentially be provided as well.

ETHERNET’S GOLDEN FUTURE Ethernet has already enabled multiple generations of high-bandwidth, low-cost, standards-based connectivity for businesses, and Carrier Ethernet 1.0 and 2.0 have widened the reach beyond the LAN.

But this is just the beginning. Faster Ethernet bandwidth is constantly on the horizon, with 100Gbit Ethernet standardized in 2010 and 2011, whilst 400Gbit and 1Tbit Ethernet are under consideration. Future Carrier Ethernet standards will aim to further simplify automated service delivery, enabling even greater possibilities to provide Ethernet connectivity as a commodity.

This will particularly benefit cloud service provision, via responsive, elastic characteristics. In other words, rather than contemplating a radical change of lifestyle in its forties, or even early retirement, Ethernet is facing even wider adoption and greater ubiquity.

This article was originally published on IT Pro Portal.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 51 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

JOHN HAWKINS senior advisor, product and technical marketing at ciena

John Hawkins is Senior Advisor for Product and Technical Marketing at Ciena. As a network specialist, John supports the company’s Packet Networking portfolio. Joining Ciena in 2009, John has held positions in business development and product management functions. He led the business development and promotion of Ciena’s E-Suite family of packet products.

Prior to joining Ciena, John was with Nortel Networks where he was responsible for Carrier Ethernet product management. His projects included the development of a number of innovative technology building blocks within Nortel’s Optical Ethernet portfolio. John began his career at GE as an IC designer, and later product manager in the Aerospace Division.

With over 25 years of technical experience, John is a frequent contributor to the Metro Ethernet Forum and sought after industry speaker. John holds a BSEE degree from North Carolina State, an MS in Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University, as well as an MBA from Duke University.

JAMES MORRIS web media producer and lecturer

James Morris has been a technology journalist for nearly 20 years. During this time, he had a five-year tenure as editor of leading UK computing monthly PC Pro. He now writes regularly for a variety of print and online publications. He also has a PhD in the philosophy of communications, and runs a BA course in Web Media at Ravensbourne in London.

WAYNE RASH technology writer

Wayne Rash has been writing technical articles about computers and networking since the mid-1970s. He is a former columnist for Byte Magazine, a former Editor of InternetWeek, and currently performs technical reviews of networking, wireless, and data center products. He is the former Director of Network Integration for American Management Systems and is one of the founders of the Advanced Network Computing Laboratory at the University of Hawaii. He is based in Washington, DC.

SIMON WILLIAMS technology writer

Simon Williams has been writing about software about as long as he’s had a word processor and hardware. When not writing about technology, he writes poems and sings folk.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO ETHERNET 52 ABOUT COMCAST BUSINESS

Comcast Business Is Built for Business. Comcast Business offers the first and largest 40G fiber optic Ethernet network in America. The sophistication and high capacity of our network helps us deliver the highest levels of service to our customers. The scalability of our data services allows us to deliver Ethernet, Internet and phone solutions — including more options at a service level — with great efficiency. To learn more, visit http://business.comcast.com/ethernet.

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