Today, tw telecom (News - Alert), one of the top three largest providers of business Ethernet in the U.S., announced wide availability of its newest national Ethernet service solution, called E-Access or "One to Many" Ethernet. This service is designed to provide ubiquitous business Ethernet reach across the United States to thousands of enterprise customers and buildings through a single Ethernet connection scalable to 10 Gig.

tw telecom’s E-Access is part of its next-generation Ethernet suite and includes an easily scalable set of advanced features and functionality with modular design parameters, which allow for various configuration options. The E-Access solution is made up of the External Network to Network Interconnection (ENNI), the E-Access operator virtual connection (OVC) and the user-network-interface (UNI) or another ENNI owned by the same service provider. Service providers can get Ethernet access for thousands of enterprise customers and buildings from a single connection from tw telecom’s network, which serves more than 75 markets.

tw telecom is the first to offer national E-Access Ethernet connectivity based on the new MEF (News - Alert) 33 standards, which defines OVS-based Ethernet services in contrast to the EVC-based services. MEF 33 defines a new Ethernet service type, Ethernet access and corresponding OVC based Ethernet services between a UNI and an ENNI. With MEF 33, Ethernet access service is offered by an Ethernet Access Provider and that provider operates the access network to reach the service provider’s out-of-franchise subscriber locations as part of providing an end-to-end service to a subscriber.

E-Access also recently received the 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year award along with its Dynamic Capacity product. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY selected the companies that have demonstrated the vision, leadership and thoroughness associated with the Product of the Year award.

In introducing E-Access’ wide availability, tw telecom has teamed with Columbus Networks, a wholesale communications service provider that offers advanced, high-speed bandwidth capacity to telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, to offer the carrier an advanced resilient hub into a national footprint from its landing station in Miami.

"Our initial experience with tw telecom has enabled us to successfully connect to many U.S. customer locations from one network access point," said Peter Collins, EVP and CTO of Columbus Networks, in a statement. "The uniqueness of E-Access provides us with additional seamless and scalable connectivity to extend our regional managed business solutions to customers with offices here in the USA." 

According to Nan Chen, president of the Metro Ethernet Forum (News - Alert) (MEF), MEF standards are designed to encourage development of ubiquitous Ethernet connectivity across the world. 

"tw telecom's E-Access is an industry first in helping carriers reach thousands of enterprise buildings from one network access point instead of needing to have local network to network connections in each city or market,” Chen said.

Through a single network connection in one location, tw telecom's Business Ethernet service is delivered to virtually any building or data center in the United States across tw telecom's 75 market national foot print.  The E-Access solution, based on MEF-compliant Ethernet Access standards, provides ready-made infrastructure for carriers to quickly and easily reach their end user locations across a secure, scalable and trusted network. 

"E-Access with an external network to network interface (ENNI) provides carrier, application, and data center service providers with a single point of access into tw telecom's vast national Ethernet footprint," said Tom Marx, president of tw telecom's Wholesale Services.  "These providers are recognizing the need for a secure and scalable network as they roll out business critical applications to their customers.  Many of these carriers typically do not have their own network to connect everywhere they need to go.  They look to tw telecom to deliver secure, scalable and predictable network connections and solutions that help them deliver applications to their customers."

"With tw telecom's E-Access, customers can avoid capital investments, reduce operating costs and more easily manage their network capability," Marx said.

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