extending ethernet

ETHERNET OVER COPPER IS MAKING NEW strides, with BellSouth Corp. and a variety of smaller carriers now seriously looking at or deploying the technology.

The recent ratification of the IEEE 802.3ah standards for Ethernet over copper — 2BASE-TL for long-range applications up to 2,700 meters at 2.3mbps minimum; and 10PASS-TS, which is based on VDSL, for shorter ranges of up to 750 meters with 10mbps per pair — means that telcos now can bring Ethernet services to their small and medium business customers without the expense of running fiber.

Suzy Gray, director of next-generation solutions at BellSouth, says there are many medium business customers that don’t have fiber, or may want Ethernet but don’t need the 10mbps to 1,000mbps service the carrier offers within its fiber-based metro Ethernet portfolio. “We’ve put into our plans 2, 4 and 8mbps options, packaged over any medium — fiber or copper,” she says. “We really see this as an opportunity for an entry-level Ethernet solution. A customer without fiber to the premises can now get the economics and benefits of higher bandwidth, and it allows us to broaden our market and leverage the existing plant.”

Availability of BellSouth’s Ethernet over copper offerings will follow that of BellSouth’s metro Ethernet rollout, which is scheduled for completion in late 2005. BellSouth had not divulged its Ethernet over copper vendors, budget or technology choice as of press time in late February.

Meanwhile, XO Communications Inc. told xchange in February it is doing beta tests of Ethernet over copper equipment from Hatteras Networks Inc. with a small number of wholesale carrier customers. If all goes well, XO could come out with Ethernet over copper VDSL services later this year, says Ernie Ortega, president of carrier services at XO.

“The [Ethernet over copper] equipment and services can be deployed as a seamless extension to the existing optical Ethernet services,” says Kevin Sheehan, president and CEO at Hatteras Networks, which has announced publicly national telco Expedient and rural telcos Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp. and Wightman Telecom Ltd. as among its customers. “By extending Ethernet services to business customers, carriers are able to expand their addressable market by up to 10 times.”

In other Ethernet over copper carrier activities, it was announced last summer that Allied Telecom Group LLC is using MetaLIGHT Ethernet over copper equipment from Actelis Networks to offer Ethernet services to businesses throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Xspedius Communications also now employs Ethernet over copper technology. “The most attractive selling point with small and medium businesses is that the majority of customers now don’t have to do conversions to network up other locations,” says Randy Muench, senior vice president of sales and marketing of Xspedius Communications, who declined to provide further details on its Ethernet over copper deployment.

“I believe Ethernet over copper is how the industry will enable the packet world,” says Muench, “unlike it ever could with just a fiber network.”

Customers can buy bandwidth in 1mbps or 5mbps increments from Xspedius, for instance, and BellSouth will offer a range of options. Instead of having to choose between narrow and fat versions of a pipe delivered over two different networks — ATM/TDM and IP MPLS — Ethernet over copper provides a choice for customers. “Today’s businesses are subscribing to different services to support different applications — TDM for voice, ATM for video, IP for Internet access,” says David Williams, market manager for the Carrier Networks Division at ADTRAN, a network access equipment vendor.

“The network is quickly changing to consist of IP/MPLS in the WAN, and Ethernet in the LAN and MAN. Businesses will want to be able to support all of their applications, with the required QoS and SLAs, over a single connection. [They] will want to do this at a significantly lower cost than their multiple connections today, and with much greater flexibility, only paying for the bandwidth they need and when they need it.”

A network built upon one core technology is less expensive to maintain than a network with multiple networks and duplicated support organizations, says Williams. “As carriers converge their core and access networks, IP MPLS appears to be the clear winner in the core, while Ethernet looks to become the winner in the access space,” he notes, making management much simpler.

And advanced IP services now come within medium businesses’ reach with Ethernet over copper, offering carriers new value-added revenue streams.

“Video conferencing is one of the services that people are looking at closely,” says Piyush Sevalia, director of product marketing at DSL vendor Ikanos Communications Inc. “Managed services is another area, and distance learning is another. Carriers will provide guaranteed levels of service for businesses, and that is how they will be differentiated.”

BellSouth, for instance, plans to evolve its Ethernet over copper offering to support voice with SLAs, classes of service and guaranteed bandwidth, giving customers the option of basic or premium service. It calls Ethernet a strategic service going forward.