Telco Systems T-Marc 300 series and T-Marc 25x series service demarcation product lines have received MEF 9 and MEF 14 certification in accordance with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)-approved test plans for Ethernet services and traffic management.

 

Based in Foxboro, Massachusetts, Telco Systems (News - Alert) is a leading provider of carrier-class transport and access solutions for IP and TDM networks for carrier, service provider and enterprise markets. Its suite of products includes solutions for Carrier Ethernet Access rings and demarcation, residential and enterprise VoIP, FTTx, SONET, TDM and T1 backhaul.

 

Founded in 1972, Telco Systems' focus is to maximize the power of their customers' networks by integrating transport, access and packet technologies onto industry-leading platforms that meet today and tomorrow's network demands.

 

MEF Certification addresses the interoperability and performance issues confronted by service providers looking to deploy Carrier Ethernet services and to accelerate the adoption of Carrier Ethernet services worldwide.

 

"The MEF Certification Program is having a significant impact on the global uptake of Carrier Ethernet. From the vendors' perspective, a single certificate can reduce the time and cost of conformance testing and accelerate the deployment of new systems, while end users can have greater confidence in their Ethernet services' consistency. It will also accelerate service providers to evaluate multiple vendors' equipment, respond to new orders or upgrades and focus on delivering the full benefits of Carrier Ethernet services," Kevin Vachon, COO of the Metro Ethernet Forum (News - Alert) said in a statement.

 

MEF 9 tests include service attributes such as CE-VLAN ID preservation, multiplexing and bundling, and MEF 14 tests for EVC related performance including frame delay, frame delay variation, and frame loss ratio, as well as bandwidth profile service attributes including per Ingress UNI, per EVC, and per Class of Service.

 

"This combination of comprehensive test cases determines the readiness of a Metro Ethernet Network (MEN) to deliver various Ethernet Services," stated Bob Mandeville, president of Iometrix (News - Alert), the testing laboratory responsible for the MEF test plan and certification process. Iometrix is the networking industry's preeminent testing authority.

 

Manu Kaycee, vice president of product strategy for Telco Systems, stated, "Our demarcation products have been purpose-built to optimize CAPEX and OPEX (News - Alert) for service providers as they continue to deploy managed services. We based the technology on current IEEE, ITU-T and IETF standards to ensure interoperability with the provider's current infrastructure. This MEF certification completes the requirements that providers seek when evaluating Carrier Ethernet solutions."