Data Transmission and Technology

(Treasure Island, San Francisco, California - Jeff M. Wang)

Ethernet is superior to cable or DSL Internet access because it offers higher Ethernet bandwidth speeds, lower equipment costs (Ethernet line handoff), and a Service Level Agreement with guarantees on Ethernet service, performance, uptime, and repair. An Ethernet Internet connection is available in 10Mbps Ethernet, 100Mbps Fast Ethernet, 1Gbps Gigabit Ethernet, or 10Gbps Gigabit Ethernet handoffs. 

Originally, Ethernet is a standard for local area networks (LAN), that is defined, maintained and extended by IEEE. Carrier Ethernet builds on that standard, but is adapted to the needs of metro area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). Standards body for Metro and Carrier Ethernet is the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Basically, Carrier Ethernet appends standard Enterprise Ethernet with additional features and protocols that provide the capabilities Carriers need to deliver services to their customers. Ethernet's traditional flat addressing scheme can wreak havoc when two independent LAN's have been interconnected by a Carrier

A key benefit of a Carrier Ethernet service is its ability to provide consistent, cost-efficient, high-performance services delivered to users in any location who are connected over one or more of a wide range of transport infrastructures. Carrier Ethernet services are designed to be delivered over all the commonly available packet access infrastructures deployed today including: Copper (including bonded channels), Fiber (dark and active), HFC (DOCSIS), Packet Radio. Passive Optical Network (PON), and PDH (T1/E1/T3/E3). 

Just as the stage is set for 400G Ethernet (GbE) to roll out in force later 2020, mainly in hyperscaler, telco and large data-center networks, there is a call to boost that speed to 800GbE or even higher in the coming years.