Ethernet Over Copper Companies Expand Services

Ethernet over Copper (EoC) has been the David to the T1 Goliath. That’s changing fast. While T1 lines won’t be knocked out anytime soon, the expansion of EoC by Ethernet over Copper companies is bringing more options to more service areas every day.

An example is the aggressive buildout by Integra Telecom into 120 telephone company central offices (COs) serving more than 400,000 businesses. Why colocate in telco offices instead of just building your own points of presence?

The answer has to do with the copper. Copper is gold in the telecom world. He who has the gold, and to some extent makes the rules, is by law the Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs), also known as the local telephone companies. All that twisted pair copper in the ground and flying overhead was put there by the ILECs for their own use. Under deregulation, they lease it out to competing carriers, like Integra, who install their own equipment to access that copper within the ILEC COs.

It’s only the last mile that Integra and other carriers lease. The rest of the signal path is through their own proprietary networks. By using that last mile of twisted pair copper wires, EoC providers can provision anywhere from 2 to 45 Mbps of Carrier Ethernet bandwidth and services. That’s faster than even bonded T1 lines can go and competes with low end fiber optic services. That makes connectivity available in the two-thirds of business buildings that aren’t yet lit for fiber.

So, what can you expect from Ethernet over Copper? First of all, it’s Ethernet. This is the same protocol that runs on your network. When adapted to run on telecom services, it’s called Carrier Ethernet. This makes the interface to your network as simple as plugging into a standard RJ-45 Ethernet connector installed by the carrier.

Even more important, your traffic stays on Ethernet as it traverses the path between company locations. The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), an industry standards group, has created several Carrier Ethernet services that support business connections. The first is Ethernet Private Line (EPL). This is similar to the point to point T1 service you may have now. It connects two locations with a Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC) for the exclusive use of your traffic.

One difference is that you have a wider range of bandwidth choices available. The other very noticeable difference is that Ethernet services tends to be considerably more cost effective than T1. You can typically get 3 Mbps EoC for the same price as 1.5 Mbps T1. As you increase bandwidth, the cost savings get even more attractive.

A related service is Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL). This is a point to multipoint connection. You could use EVPL to establish a star network with your headquarters location in the center, connecting many other business locations.

Another service gaining popularity is E-LAN or Ethernet LAN service. This is an Ethernet based cloud networking service that connects multiple locations in a meshed arrangement. Because it is Ethernet, you can use it as a bridged network connection to join the LANs at all of your diverse business locations so that they operate as one very large company network.

Ethernet over Copper offers you an expanded range of services than what you have now with an expanded bandwidth selection that is easily scalable and less costly than traditional telecom services. The one question is whether you can get EoC yet? With the rapid deployment by many carriers, the answer is probably YES. Want to find out? Get availability and pricing for Ethernet over Copper services suitable for your business locations.

20 to 100 Mbps Metro Ethernet

Companies often lease telecom lines for dedicated access to the Internet or for Wide Area Network (WAN) connections. These WAN links can span cities, states or even international borders. But what if all you want to do is connect two or more locations in the same town? What you need then is a MAN or Metropolitan Area Network.

The newest type of metropolitan network is called Metropolitan Ethernet, Metro Ethernet or Metro E. What’s exciting about Metro Ethernet is the wide range of bandwidth levels available, the ease and speed of increasing bandwidth as needed, the availability of new standardized services, easy LAN interfacing and the cost advantage of Ethernet compared to traditional telecom services.

A metro area network is exactly what it sounds like. It is a network that covers a particular city or metropolitan area consisting of the city, suburbs and any important industrial or office parks. Metro networks are careful to be accessible by businesses that are likely users of their services. This is strictly a commercial service, not for residential or home office users.

Unlike the Internet, there is no public access to Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN). They are privately operated by a network service provider who grants access only to paying customers. Even those customers can only access their own data. The network operator provides enough resources so that customers are unaware there is anyone else using the network.

What type of services can you get? Two of the most popular are E-Line and E-LAN. Both are standards established by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), an industry trade group. An big advantage of standardization is that you know what you are ordering regardless of service provider or hardware implementation.

E-Line or Ethernet Line service is the familiar point to point dedicated line connection. A EVC or Ethernet Virtual Connection is established between the UNIs (User Network Interfaces) at two locations. Your Ethernet packets travel back and forth on this EVC. It’s virtual because you don’t have a dedicated set of wires between the locations for your use only. Instead, your EVC shares the Metro Ethernet Network with other user’s EVCs.

The other popular service is E-LAN or Ethernet LAN service. This is a multi-point networking service that connects 3 or more business locations in a meshed network. This replaces propriety corporate networks created using multiple T1 lines or other dedicated bandwidth connections in a star network arrangement.

What makes E-Line and E-LAN so popular? First, you can get the connectivity you want at a lower cost than using older telecom technologies. Second, it’s Ethernet just like the Ethernet you run on your company LAN. For MAN applications, this is called Carrier Ethernet. Because it’s Ethernet, your connection to the MAN is via a standard copper or fiber Ethernet connector. There are no special interface cards needed. By tying your locations together via Carrier Ethernet, you can choose to use layer 2 switching to create a bridged LAN that includes all of the networks at your various locations around town.

Carrier Ethernet is designed to be easily scalable. You can get connections using copper technology called EoC for Ethernet over Copper in the range of 2 Mbps on up to about 45 Mbps. Fiber technology called EoF for Ethernet over Fiber covers you from 10 Mbps up to 10 Gbps. This includes the popular range of 20 to 100 Mbps that many companies desire. Note that if you have a 100 Mbps Ethernet Port installed, you can start off with 20 Mbps service and scale up to 100 Mbps with only a phone call to your service provider. If you have a Gigabit Ethernet Port installed, you can get any bandwidth up to 1,000 Mbps.

Could your company benefit from 20 to 100 Mbps Metro Ethernet? If so check prices and services for Metro Ethernet Networks available for your business locations.



Note: Photo of city lights courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

1 Gbps Point to Point Ethernet Connection

With WAN bandwidth requirements increasing as businesses move to the cloud and become more involved with bandwidth intensive activities such as video and big data, it is not uncommon anymore to be requesting 1,000 Mbps connections. A popular match for this requirement is a 1 Gbps Ethernet or GigE point to point connection. Let’s take a look at what’s involved and your options for Gigabit Ethernet service.

Ethernet is the standard protocol of the LAN. Most network interfaces run at 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1000 Mbps or 10 Gbps. Many standard network devices support multiple speeds, typically 10/100/1000 Mbps. It is only logical to want to extend the LAN through the WAN and to another LAN somewhere else. The way to avoid speed bumps that cause network congestion while avoiding over-provisioning and overpaying for WAN bandwidth is to match your LAN to your WAN. That means standard LAN speeds and protocol.

Fortunately, this has all been figured out by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), an industry group that sets standards for interoperability among vendors. They have created the standards necessary to take LAN Ethernet and transport it through WAN connections. In the WAN, this is called Carrier Ethernet.

It all starts and ends with a User Network Interface or UNI. This is a “port” provided by the carrier or service provider and installed at the user location or locations. The UNI is designed to run at standard LAN operating speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps. That doesn’t mean that you are limited to one of those service speeds. The installed UNI defines the upper limit to the bandwidth it will support. The carrier rate limits the actual speed of the service to match the bandwidth you are paying for. That could be 20 Mbps, 75 Mbps, 450 Mbps or some other value. There are typically many increments to choose from so you only have to pay for the bandwidth you really need.

There is a big advantage to this arrangement. Not only are you not stuck with a service that is too big or too small for your needs, but all the hardware is set up to support the port speed of the UNI. The rate limiting is a software function that can be changed quickly by the service provider with a few keystrokes into their system. That means that you can call up and request a bandwidth increase at any time and have it available in days, maybe hours of your request. The carrier will enter the change and adjust your billing to match. Compare that to traditional telecom service that require truck rolls to install new equipment and perhaps pull new wiring. If your UNI supports 1 Gbps, you won’t need any hardware changes until you want to go above that speed.

The actual transportation takes place on an Ethernet Virtual Connection or EVC. The EVC provides point to point connectivity between designated UNIs and prevents data transfer between sites that aren’t part of the same EVC. The popular Ethernet point to point service is known as EPL or Ethernet Private Line. It is a direct replacement for TDM private lines.

Another interesting feature of Ethernet UNIs is that they can handle multiple EVCs. That may seem a little strange compared to typical telecom UNIs that connect physical wires and transport a single Point to Point (PTP) line service. Each EVC can be considered a separate private line. Multiple EVCs delivered over a single UNI is called EVPL or Ethernet Virtual Private Line service. One popular topology is a hub and spoke arrangement where a headquarters location is connected to multiple branch offices using EVPL. Only a single physical UNI is needed at HQ to support all the private line spoke connections.

Is your operation ready for higher bandwidth WAN service? Find out how little it now costs to support 1 Gbps Point to Point Ethernet Connections using EPL and EVPL.

What is Metro Ethernet?

We’re all familiar with Ethernet, the packet switched network standard that runs on our LANs. But what is Metro Ethernet and how does it differ from Carrier Ethernet? Is Metro Ethernet the same protocol running on local networks but just going longer distances?

From a users standpoint, Metro Ethernet really is just like local Ethernet. In fact, the connection to the Metro Ethernet Network is a standard Ethernet connector. There are no special interface modules needed to convert protocols or establish signal levels. You simply plug one network into the local Metro Ethernet connection and another network into the Metro Ethernet connection across town and they are connected together.

Actually, it has taken quite a bit of effort to make Metro Ethernet so simple. That work has been done by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), a industry standards group. The beauty of standards is that both providers and users know exactly what they are dealing with. There aren’t the ugly surprises that come from trying to engineer basically incompatible products and services.

The terms Metro Ethernet and Carrier Ethernet tend to be used interchangeably. Carrier Ethernet is meant to describe standard switched Ethernet adapted for use over much longer spans than within a building or corporate campus. Carrier Ethernet can be deployed on IP core networks, over SONET/SDH, or over MPLS networks. The end user isn’t generally aware of the transport mechanism. From the customer’s standpoint, it’s just Ethernet ports at each location.

Metro Ethernet is the term that is used to refer to Ethernet services limited to a particular city or metropolitan area of city and suburbs. It’s a popular service for companies that have two or more separate business locations locally. Medical groups consisting of several hospitals, diagnostic centers and clinics are also find Metro Ethernet attractive because of its high bandwidths, ease of connection and lower costs compared to traditional telecom line services.

The customer service connection is made at a User-Network Interface (UNI) installed by the service provider. On one side is the Customer Equipment (CE) and on the other side is the Metro Ethernet Network (MEN). The path between UNIs is made through an Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC). The EVC maintains the Ethernet MAC address and frame contents unaltered, so it is possible to establish Layer 2 connectivity between locations. It also ensures that traffic goes between the proper UNIs and nowhere else. Think of an EVC as similar in function to a “wired” network connection between two locations.

There are two Metro Ethernet services you’ll be interested in. One is Ethernet Line or E-Line service. This is the equivalent of point to point private line service using T1 or DS3. The other is Ethernet LAN or E-LAN service. This is a multipoint to multipoint service that can be used in place of private proprietary networks, Frame Relay, or MPLS networks to connect multiple locations in a mesh network. Both of these services are suitable for linking offices, factories, warehouses, data centers and other sites within a metropolitan area.

Could your organization benefit from Metro Ethernet? If you have need to connect two or more locations within a city or small geographical area, you may be able to get more bandwidth for less money than you can with other connectivity solutions. To find out, check Metro Ethernet Network availability and pricing for your business locations.

Your Point to Point Ethernet Connection

Any company with two or more locations that need to be interconnected to share data have a need for point to point line service. The traditional solution is a T1 data line with 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth. Today, you have more options.

If it’s just a matter of increasing bandwidth on a T1 service that works just fine, you do have the option to bind in additional T1 lines. An extra T1 gives you 3 Mbps, 4 T1s are good for 6 Mbps, and 7 T1’s will get you up to 10 Mbps. Outside of metro areas, this may be your best bet. But if you are located within a large metropolitan area, point to point Ethernet might be a better choice.

Why? It’s a matter of cost and service options. Bonding T1 lines incrementally increases bandwidth and cost by about the same amount. Ethernet, however, is generally lower on a per Mbps basis, especially as bandwidth increases. That 10 Mbps connection might cost you half or less than you’ll pay for bonded T1.

Ethernet sounds like a perfect fit for linking two LANs, and it is. Your data starts off as Ethernet, continues through the WAN service as Ethernet, and is back on your far end LAN as Ethernet. Not only is that inherently efficient, but you also get the option to make that connection at layer 2 rather than layer 3. In short, you can treat your two locations as being on the same bridged Ethernet LAN rather than completely separate networks that happen to have a telecom link.

What you are looking for is called E-Line service. It’s a direct replacement for TDM private lines, such as T1. It is implemented as a single EVC or Ethernet Virtual Connection between two UNIs or User Network Interfaces. Think of it is a very long Ethernet cable between Location A and Location B.

While E-Line service is the most popular Ethernet bandwidth connection, there are some other Ethernet services that you may also want to know about. One is EVPL or Ethernet Virtual Private Line. Why would you want a virtual rather than an actual Ethernet line? The difference is that multiple Ethernet services can be carried on the EVPL. You’ll have one physical connection to your building, but you may be bringing in a dozen or so Ethernet virtual private lines.

If you have multiple locations that all want to communicate with each other, you need more of a meshed network that simple point to point lines. That’s where E-LAN or Ethernet LAN service shines. Each location connects to the “cloud” network via an Ethernet line service. All locations can then communicate as if they were on the same LAN.

A third service is called E-Tree. This is a point to multipoint connection that is useful for content delivery to multiple users. The users have no interaction with each other and simply get their content from the “root” organization.

Is one or more of these Ethernet services right for your organization? Why not price out the options and then decide. Get your inquiry in now and see how much you can save over your other networking choices.

EVPL Ethernet Virtual Private Line Service

You are probably familiar with private line services for business. A private line is one where you have exclusive use. An analog telephone line is a private line. So is a T1 voice or data line. Now there is something new is the mix. It’s the VPL or Virtual Private Line.

Telephone lines weren’t always private. Remember the party line? Decades ago, several houses in a neighborhood would be connected to the same physical line. If you picked up your phone to make a call, you might hear one of your neighbors already engaged in conversation. In the pre-Twitter days, listening-in on other phone conversations was often a form of amusement.

That lack of privacy is long gone for telephones. But shared digital services exist today, especially with public access Internet. No, you can’t casually eavesdrop on your neighbors email or Web activities, but if some of the users start heavily downloading large files, your Internet service will slow down. There are also tools available that allow anyone to monitor everything going over a particular WiFi hotspot. The whole Internet is one big party line in the sense that you can’t be sure who’s monitoring the traffic and what they might be doing with information they skim.

It’s the security risk and the lack of consistent bandwidth that have driven businesses to private line service. T1 lines are private lines. They offer the advantages of rock solid 1.5 Mbps bandwidth and exclusive use of the line. The disadvantage is that you pay for that line even when traffic is light or non-existant.

Ethernet also offers a private line service called EPL. It works like T1 in that it is a physical line connection between you and your service provider. The difference is that the protocol is Ethernet and you can often get scalable bandwidth, typically 10 Mbps.

If you have a private line service, why would you want a virtual private line service? For one reason, you may want private lines running from your headquarters out to a number of branch offices. With dedicate private lines, you need separate physical circuits for each of these lines. You pay for the exclusive full time use of each circuit and there may or may not be enough pairs of wire into your headquarters office to give you the number of private lines you desire.

Ethernet Virtual Private Line service, EVPL, uses a single physical copper or fiber circuit to connect you to the service provider. Within that circuit are multiple EVCs or Ethernet Virtual Connection. This is not a party line arrangement. Each EVC carries its own traffic to and from another location without any cross-talk or interference from other EVCs.

The power of EVPL is not only that you only need one network interface at each of your facilities, including headquarters, but that those virtual connections can be extended to other cities or states over the provider’s MPLS core network. The MPLS is a cloud network that carries traffic for many users, but the integrity of each user’s virtual circuit is maintained from point to point regardless of distance.

EVPL is also a switched layer 2 service, which means that you can use it to extend your LAN network across town or across the country. It’s the simplest way to bridge multiple LANs when they are not located in the same facility.

Can EVPL service be of benefit for your organization? Find out with a quick inquiry about Ethernet Virtual Private Line service. Our expert Telarus consultants will be happy to get you price comparisons and service level agreements so you can make the best decision for your company.