Ethernet has rapidly become adopted as the primary low level transmission protocol for high speed fiber networks. Just as it has become ubiquitous in the office and home environment, Carrier Ethernet is also widely used to provide high speed services between enterprises and across high capacity networks.
The technology provides improved manageability and scalability for transporting both variable and constant bit-rate services. IP, ATM and other protocols can be used across Ethernet with older circuit switched transmission such as 2 Mbit/s E1being supported by pseudo-wire circuit emulation.
Capacity management continues to be important
Faster technologies such as Ethernet still don’t provide an inexhaustible supply of bandwidth. Each link has a cost, something made more visible when outsourcing transmission to third parties. Tracking the bandwidth allocated for each end node on an end-to-end basis allows potential bottlenecks to be identified early and action taken to resolve before congestion occurs.
Planning tools which provide that capacity view, with threshold reporting used to highlight potential problem areas, enable planners to keep a close eye on capacity. This keeps costs under tight control and provides competitive advantage of this burgeoning expense.
Managing multiple technologies in a single view
It will take at least a decade for commonly deployed transmission technologies such as SDH to disappear completely. In the meantime, Ethernet will commonly be used to carry a variety of new and legacy transmission formats side by side. Planning, design and management of these different protocols requires more comprehensive OSS systems than before.
The interdependency between the underlying Ethernet and the various bearer traffic types being carried requires a single, combined technical model of all the technologies used. A single view which shows the relationships between each allows planners, designers and maintenance teams to fully appreciate the implications of each network change or outage.
Major investments in Ethernet should always be accompanied by a review of the OSS systems to be used, and may be a good reason to justify a transformation to a new platform.
Rapid Fulfillment
A single inventory also forms a strong platform for automation of service fulfillment. With clear insight into allocated bandwidth, available capacity and forthcoming expansion plans, the design of solutions for specific customers including corporate enterprise and other complex requirements can be completed much more quickly and confidently than before.
An associated telecom technology which is closely affected is IP.