ATM. Frame relay SONET and SDH. X.25.
Wide area networks are littered with a broad array of legacy equipment and technologies. That can make connecting different sites of an organization a complicated and pricey affair.
Of course, specialists can be brought in to sort through the mess and handle configuration and, later, reconfiguration, as noted by Simon Williams in an IT ProPortal article. However, Carrier Ethernet can help simplify some of that, as Williams went on to point out.
“Although Carrier Ethernet will still require special interfaces to connect the LAN to the outside world, these are based around Ethernet technology, and their configuration is an extension of configuring regular LAN resources, although there are Carrier Ethernet-specific management methods here,” Williams wrote.
Williams then went on to talk about Carrier Ethernet 2.0 and E-Access service type.
Carrier Ethernet 2.0 was unveiled in February of 2012. It is defined by the MEF (News - Alert) as consisting of eight services, include E-Access, two E-LAN, and two E-Line services; featuring a standardized Multi-CoS with application-oriented class of service performance objectives; supporting interconnect; and having manageability specifications. As the MEF told me more than four years ago, Carrier Ethernet 2.0 enables enterprises to benefit from more efficient bandwidth utilization and predictable carrier Ethernet performance; small and medium businesses to benefit from hosted applications integrated via interconnectivity over single connections; and service providers to benefit from more affordable mobile backhaul, more predicable quality of service, and simplified wholesale relationships among carriers.
Speaking of Ethernet, vendor revenue from sales of Ethernet switch, server, and storage infrastructure for cloud IT, including public and private cloud, grew 21.9 percent year over year to $29 billion in 2015, according to IDC (News - Alert). And in the fourth quarter of last year it grew 15.7 percent to $8.2 billion.
"The cloud IT infrastructure market continues to see strong double-digit growth with faster gains coming from public cloud infrastructure demand," said Kuba Stolarski, research director for computing platforms at IDC. "End customers are modernizing their infrastructures along specific workload, performance, and TCO requirements, with a general tendency to move into 3rd Platform, next-gen technologies. Options on and off premises continue to expand, along with open platforms that enhance hybrid capabilities for a variety of use cases."
Edited by Maurice Nagle