After many years of big talk and tantalizing potential, Metro Ethernet is ready to roll. Five years ago, when we published our Gig-E/MAN Report™, some in the industry thought that the marriage of fiber-based MAN resources with Gigabit Ethernet was a convenient, inexpensive way to expand metro access bandwidth, but it remained a specialized, niche service. In retrospect, that report was a little ahead of its time. Significant progress has been made, and today the stage is set for Ethernet to become a ubiquitous transport technology—and perhaps eventually to dominate the WAN as it has the LAN. Carrier-grade service and equipment standards are in place, and now the common belief is that Metro Ethernet can handle some mission-critical applications, is ready for more widespread deployment, and is showing signs that its growth in market share is sustainable.

Based on extensive research of the sector, NPRG’s Metro Ethernet Report™ shows that the pieces are now in place for a "golden age" of Metro Ethernet to begin.

What’s driving interest in Metro Ethernet and optimism for its future?

For starters, the industry has learned from its past and set about defining fundamental standards. The creation of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), a clearinghouse for this standards work, proved seminal, enabling both vendors and service providers to speak the same language. One result was a common definition for "E-Line" (point-to-point) and "E-LAN" (multipoint) services, which standardized the mish-mash of terminology and interpretations that varied from provider to provider. Some providers have dropped or tweaked their own product branding to more closely parallel MEF categorization. In 2006, the MEF began a certification program for equipment and services, giving Metro Ethernet additional transparency.¹

At the same time, the boom in data traffic has been a boon for Metro Ethernet, due to its IP compatibility and its better scalability compared to legacy services. End-users caught between NxT1 (Nx1.5 Mbps) and T3 (45 Mbps) service options, for instance, are embracing the fact that they can get 10 Mbps of Ethernet (or multiples thereof), then quickly and easily add 10 Mbps increments as their capacity needs grow. The same holds for large enterprise and municipal customers on a 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps scale.

In 2006, carriers finally rolled out copper-based technologies for provisioning mid-band Ethernet (less than 10 Mbps) on a large scale, greatly expanding availability of Ethernet in the metro and increasing its appeal as an end-to-end WAN solution.

Another milestone looms on the horizon for 2007: the anticipated national rollout of VPLS by the RBOCs. Rather than spelling doom for long-standing Metro Ethernet providers, the industry as a whole expects the RBOCs’ nationwide VPLS products to enhance Ethernet’s reputation as a metro access solution. Competitive Ethernet providers see nationwide availability from the biggest carriers as the highest imprimatur for Metro

Ethernet, generating greater awareness, increased customer interest, and ultimately more sales and deployments throughout 2007-08 and beyond.