AT&T Carrier Ethernet: Limitless Potential
Although Ethernet has been available since the 1970s, its application to carrier networks is still relatively new. In this Q&A, AT&T Vice President Sandy Brown offers his thoughts on where the technology is going, and what AT&T is doing to help take it there
WHAT ARE ITS PRIMARY APPLICATIONS? In the wholesale market, wireless carriers are actively building out their mobile access backhaul and their backbone infrastructures using carrier Ethernet. This is a very dynamic area, given the accelerating demand for mobile bandwidth, 3G and 4G/LTE. Access itself is a key application; many customers use Ethernet to access a broad range of higher-level network services, including the internet and virtual private IP networks. Virtual Ethernet private lines using VPLS technology, along with other value-added services, are providing a new set of options for our wholesale customers, including carriers, cable operators, content providers, systems integrators and enhanced service providers. Strong demand is also beginning to crop up for dedicated Ethernet long-haul service, particularly at 1G and 10G speeds, with some activity at 40G and discussions about 100G. We’re also seeing strong interest in cloud computing and virtualisation applications, some with very stringent latency and diversity requirements. In the enterprise market, we expect continued strong demand for Ethernet in financial services, education, healthcare, government and retail sectors.
Sandy Brown, Vice President, AT&T
WHY IS CARRIER ETHERNET SO IMPORTANT? Ethernet represents a fundamental transformation in carrier networking due to its inherent scalability, simplicity, scope and savings characteristics. Businesses naturally want to optimise their processes, and carrier Ethernet offers them this flexibility. It’s extremely easy to scale, so in many cases customers can change their bandwidth with logical changes – no physical re-provisioning required. And Ethernet is going to open the door for new capabilities in bandwidth-hungry applications like streaming video, mobile data, telepresence and data centre virtualisation. Plus, there’s a broad understanding and acceptance of Ethernet among IT folks, so people are comfortable using it as an end-to-end technology. Finally, carrier Ethernet has superior price/ performance characteristics as well as the potential to lower the total cost of ownership for both customers and carriers.
WHAT SHOULD COMPANIES CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A SERVICE PROVIDER? I think that’s really a two-part answer. There’s a “today” decision and a “tomorrow” decision. For today’s needs, the key factors are footprint, speed and performance, as well as the available feature set, service interworking, and, of course, the implementation schedule. But companies should also consider tomorrow, how their own needs will evolve over time and opt for a partner that can grow with them – especially one with a proven track record. Does the provider have the assets deployed today, can they show proof positive that they’ll have them tomorrow, and do they have the people, processes and tools to support their customers’ evolving business requirements?
IS AT&T A BUYER OR A SELLER OF CARRIER ETHERNET SERVICES? Both. We’re one of the world’s largest purchasers of carrier Ethernet. In fact, we led the industry in establishing certification specifications for buying Ethernet access from other carriers about five years ago.
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