A Metro Ethernet is a computer network that covers a metropolitan area and that is based on the Ethernet standard. It is commonly used as a metropolitan access network to connect subscribers and businesses to a larger service network or the Internet. Businesses can also use Metro Ethernet to connect branch offices to their Intranet.
Ethernet has been a well known technology for decades. An Ethernet interface is much less expensive than a SONET/SDH or PDH interface of the same bandwidth. Ethernet also supports high bandwidths with fine granularity, which is not available with traditional SDH connections. Another distinct advantage of an Ethernet-based access network is that it can be easily connected to the customer network, due to the prevalent use of Ethernet in corporate and, more recently, residential networks. Therefore, bringing Ethernet in to the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) introduces a lot of advantages to both the service provider and the customer (corporate and residential).
A typical service provider Metro Ethernet network is a collection of Layer 2 or/and Layer 3 switches or/and routers connected through optical fiber. The topology could be a ring, hub-and-spoke (star), or full or partial mesh. The network will also have a hierarchy: core, distribution (aggregation) and access. The core in most cases is an existing IP/MPLS backbone, but may migrate to newer forms of pure Ethernet Transport in the form of 1G, 10G or 100G speeds.
Ethernet on the MAN can be used as pure Ethernet, Ethernet over SDH, Ethernet over MPLS or Ethernet over DWDM. Pure Ethernet-based deployments are cheap but less reliable and scalable, and thus are usually limited to local service providers. SDH-based deployments are useful when there is an existing SDH infrastructure already in place, its main shortcoming being the loss of flexibility in bandwidth management due to the rigid hierarchy imposed by the SDH network. MPLS based deployments are costly but highly reliable and scalable, and are typically used by large service providers
With several vendor partners specialising in Ethernet technology solutions; IPnett can offer a broad range of products, knowledge and solutions in this area of networking.
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks MX-series Ethernet Services Routers (ESRs) are purpose-built platforms designed to support an impressive number of GigE and 10 GigE ports and MAC addresses, supporting more than twice as many interfaces per chassis as competing products. Customers can increase the energy efficiency of their networks and reduce power, space and cooling costs by as much as 60 percent.
In addition to industry-leading scalability and performance, the MX-series ESRs deliver many advantages, including:-
- Carrier-proven JUNOS Operating System
- Dense Port Concentrators
- Superior QoS
- Full Layer 2 Capabilities
- MPLS Plug-and-Play
Ciena
Ciena’s Carrier Ethernet products and solutions are used by service providers around the world to deliver Carrier Ethernet Business, Transport & Residential Services.
IPnett provide a complete Ciena solution that can be deployed quickly and efficiently, that scales to meet new subscriber demands and which provides programmable network architecture.
- Service Concentration Switch – Ethernet switches configurable with copper and/or fiber physical interfaces, 100 Mbps and/or 1 Gbps ports, and AC or DC power.
- Service Delivery Switch – compact Ethernet switches configurable with fiber or copper physical interfaces, redundant fans and pluggable redundant AC or DC power, provide large-scale 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps Ethernet switching.
- Service aggregation Switch – supports Carrier Ethernet services such as ELINE, EVPL, ELAN and TLS. Purpose built to incorporate Business and Residential Ethernet FTTX offerings, Triple Play, Wireless Backhaul and Ethernet DSLAM Aggregation.