Ethernet Connects Businesses Throughout Latin America

Over the last few years, Carrier Ethernet services have become the choice of many, many businesses for Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), private line point to point connections, last mile access to MPLS networks and meshed any-to-any connections to link multiple business sites in the United States. Now that capability is rolling out worldwide. As an example, Level 3, a major international carrier, has won an award from the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) for their service to the Caribbean and Latin America.

International voice and data services have been available for decades. We’re well aware of the extensive undersea fiber optic cables that link continents. What’s different now is a change of protocol and the availability of new services for companies and organizations worldwide.

The reason that Ethernet is displacing earlier protocols is that IP packets are now the dominant packaging for electronic communication. Nearly all Local Area Networks (LANs) are Ethernet based. The Internet, the largest and most connected set of networks, is based on routing IP or Internet Protocol packets. So why wouldn’t you simply extend the networks you have now using an Ethernet protocol?

The only thing stopping a faster switch over to IP based core networks is legacy. The massive investment in infrastructure over the last century isn’t going to go away all at once. That infrastructure was largely built by the telephone companies for their own use and is based on Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) telco standards such as T1, DS3 and SONET.

Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to rip out all the existing telecom equipment that works perfectly well just to have Ethernet services available. Carrier Ethernet can run over IP core networks or TDM networks. Ethernet over T1 (EoDS1) works well as a last mile connection to join MPLS networks or as a point to point private line. The existing T1 infrastructure is so extensive that it can be brought into nearly any business, even in rural areas. Ethernet over DS3 (EoDS3) up the bandwidth to 45 Mbps. Ethernet over SONET picks up at 155 Mbps and goes to at least 10 Gbps, with some connections available at 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps.

One factor that has hastened the adoption of Carrier Ethernet is the existence of an industry standards group called the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). This group serves to establish and maintain the standards that all manufacturers and Ethernet service providers will use to enter the Ethernet marketplace. One standard of note is the E-NNI or Ethernet Network to Network Interface. This provides a predictable and carrier-agnostic way for two networks to exchange traffic. As they do this, each carrier expands the reach of its own services. It is no longer necessary to lay fiber around the world to connect to international destinations. Carriers can create peering arrangements through E-NNIs to gain access to the markets that they don’t directly serve.

Level 3’s award winning project involved one of the world’s largest banking and financial services companies. The Ethernet business solution supported this customer’s connectivity throughout Brazil. More and more large and medium size corporations are looking at Ethernet services to interconnect their various locations worldwide. Smaller companies are finding that the cost advantages and easy connectivity of Ethernet makes it well worthwhile to switch services at contract renewal time for for new installations.

Does your large, medium or small organization need better connectivity at lower prices than what you’ve traditionally paid for legacy telecom services? If so, check pricing and features of Carrier Ethernet services now.



Note: Map of Latin America image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Virtual Computing, Storage and Security for Latin America

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and managed hosting have experienced rapid adoption by enterprise users in North America and Europe. Level 3 Communications is now offering a new set of data center services to enterprises in Latin America.

The countries of Latin America span North America (Mexico), Central America, the Caribbean and the continent of South America. This is an area of over 8 million square miles and 14% of the land surface of the globe that’s home to a population of almost 600 million. It’s also a region where major economic sectors include, banking, agriculture, manufacturing, commodities and tourism.

Level 3 Communications has a major commitment in Latin America, with operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, the United States (Florida) and the Caribbean region. They already have 15 world-class data centers located in the main business centers of Latin America. The connectivity is in place to support communications in-country, between countries and to the rest of the global community. Options include SDH Private Line, Wavelengths and Ethernet Wavelengths, Ethernet Transport, IP VPN, high speed Internet Protocol and more.

What’s exciting now is the opportunity for virtualized services in the cloud to replace local data center operations. Cloud computing, storage and security have the advantages of being quickly scaled, and paid for as an operating rather than capital expense.

Level 3 Dynamic Enterprise Computing offers virtual computing, storage and security elements with dynamic pricing based on resource consumption. Resource availability is assured, but not limited. You can rapidly scale, or burst, to cover unforeseen business activities. All the while, you are paying for what you actually use, rather than having to provision resources that may sit idle just to ensure that you have enough online to keep up with demand peaks.

Level 3 is a major force in cloud computing with the advantage of also being a major worldwide telecom carrier. You have a choice of public, private or hybrid cloud arrangements. You also have the connectivity you need. You can connect to the public cloud through Level 3’s core Internet backbone. For a private cloud, Level 3 offers MPLS, private line and wavelength connections.

One thing you might want to consider is converging your network to support both voice and data. This has the advantage of eliminating the redundant telephone network, but the options it opens up go far beyond simple wiring. Once you’ve substituted IP phones for the analog desk sets you have now, your voice communications will all take place over your local network and the WAN connections you have in place with branch offices and other remote business locations. This lets you bypass the telephone industry toll charges for interoffice calls.

The biggest change of all comes when you abandon the large and expensive in-house PBX telephone system in favor of a hosted PBX solution in the cloud. It works like a virtual server, only for voice communications. The service provider takes care of trunk lines to the public telephone system. All other calls stay on-net. You also have the option of integrating your smartphones and other mobile devices into a unified communications system. You’ll have the same services available in the field as you do in the office.

Do you do business in Latin America, North America or elsewhere in the world and need the high performance connectivity and data center services that help make an enterprise successful? If so, have a look at the suites of cloud computing and networking services available from Level 3 Communications and other top rate service providers.



Note: Map of Latin America image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.