Verizon Business, the entity created by the combination of MCI Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.’s enterprise unit, has expanded the availability of its Ethernet access services in key cities in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.
The company also now offers a more integrated portfolio of Ethernet access services, including Ethernet access to Private IP. Of course, the Ethernet access piece came from the pre-merger Verizon and the private, MPLS-based IP part came from the pre-merger MCI.
“We now have a fairly ubiquitous Ethernet story,” Michael Marcellin, director of IP and Ethernet networking at Verizon Business, told xchange yesterday. That includes a “globally consistent” service, which offers the flexibility, familiarity and economies of scale benefits of Ethernet, he said.
Marcellin said the coverage of Verizon Business’ Ethernet network is unmatched. While some global competitors offer MPLS, their U.S. Ethernet coverage is not as strong as what Verizon Business delivers, he said. And, he added, AT&T and SBC haven’t done the integration on the Ethernet front that Verizon Business has.
The Ethernet expansion includes Boston; New York City; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Seattle, Wash.; and Tampa, Fla. Ethernet access services also are available now in Amsterdam; Brussels; Frankfurt and Hilden, Germany; London; Lyon and Paris, France; Milan; Stockholm and Zurich. Key Asia Pacific markets for the services include Auckland, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Osaka, Seoul, Sydney, Taipei and Tokyo.
The Ethernet portfolio from Verizon – which launched one of the first Metro Ethernet services in 1993 and now has more than 5,000 enterprise Ethernet ports in service – includes Ethernet Private Line (EPL) and Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), which provide service in 85 metro markets in the U.S. and in nine countries in Europe; E-LAN Services with 55 metro markets in the U.S.; E-Access for Private IP nationwide; and Internet Dedicated Service in 25 U.S. markets, nine countries in Europe and in six countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The service pricing is based on bandwidth, interface (100mbps or GigE), and term commitment, but a 30mbps port on a 100mbps interface sells for around $6,500.
In the coming months, Verizon Business plans to broaden Ethernet access to Dedicated Internet Services from 25 markets to more than 60 markets nationwide. And by mid-year, Verizon Business expects to launch VPLS, a nationwide Ethernet-based Layer 2 service.
Verizon Business is also working to deliver configuration management and fault and performance management tools for its Ethernet access services, said Marcellin, noting that such tools already are available for its Private IP offering.
Verizon Business www.verizonbusiness.com
