FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Stacey Doherty DD&K Communications LLC stacey@ddkcomm.com 425.466.9428 Tracy Dupree DD&K Communications LLC tracy@ddkcomm.com 818.999.1664
Metro Ethernet Forum Establishing Carrier-Class Ethernet Technical Specifications
Significant Progress Made through the Second MEF Technical Meeting
Santa Clara, Calif. – November 5, 2001 – With the mission of accelerating the adoption of optical Ethernet as the technology of choice in metro networks worldwide, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) held its Second Technical Committee meeting in Boston from October 23 to 25. The meeting continued the process of creating a new set of technical specifications for service providers and other forum members to follow as carrier-class Ethernet based metro networks are being deployed worldwide. "We were delighted by the attendance of over 90 people from across the globe, representing nearly all of the 59 member companies. Such attendance in these austere times clearly demonstrates the need for the MEF to set a clear direction in the metro market,” said Nan Chen, president of the MEF and director of product marketing of Atrica, Inc. “We are making great strides in delivering Ethernet-based metro networks with carrier-class capabilities, standardizing Ethernet services, and enabling large-scale Ethernet-based metro network deployment in the metro by service providers.” Fulfilling the primary objectives set at the Board of Directors, this second technical meeting has reached agreements on the following:
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Metro Ethernet Protection (50 millisecond). The Protocols and Transport Sub-committee has developed an innovative protection model and related implementation framework. This multilevel model comprehensively addresses one of the prime strength of metro Ethernet –
delivering 50 ms resiliency in the event of link or node failures in the network while maintaining complete topology flexibility. --more-•
Metro Ethernet Services Definition. The Services sub-committee has developed an initial Ethernet Services model with associated definitions, profiles and templates. Based upon this model, metro Ethernet services offerings are being defined, and a Service Level Specification (SLS) framework is being developed, upon which commercial Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) can then be signed between a service provider and an end customer.
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Metro Ethernet QoS Framework. The Protocols and Transport Sub-committee has also drafted an initial proposal for a Quality of Service framework. For metro Ethernet to be widely adopted, it is imperative that a Service Provider can provide various classes of service (CoS) and ensure QoS within each CoS.
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Metro Ethernet Reference Model. The Architecture sub-committee has developed an initial “Metro Ethernet Reference Model”, which enables a common ‘baseline’ from which other MEF technical sub-committees can leverage.
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Management Sub-committee Charter. The Management Sub-committee is formally organized and adopted a charter. The initial technical work is to develop the requirement for management of the Ethernet interface between a service provider and an end customer.
“The depth and quality of over 30 technical contributions, most of them co-authored, were truly impressive,” said Bob Klessig, MEF VP and Technical Committee Co-chair. “The spirit of cooperation and alignment of purpose that was evident in the meeting confirms that we are on the right track, addressing the real concerns and priorities of all parties interested in seeing widespread Metro Ethernet adoption.” The third meeting of the MEF Technical Committee, along with the MEF plenary and Marketing Committee meetings, will be held on February 5-8 in San Diego. At this meeting, the Technical Committee will review various drafts developed by all sub-committees, while entertaining additional proposals, and fully expect to endorse the first drafts of these MEF Technical Specifications.
About The Metro Ethernet Forum Created to accelerate the adoption of optical Ethernet in metro networks worldwide, the Metro Ethernet Forum consists of 59 member companies representing a range of leading Ethernet service
providers, major incumbent local exchange carriers, top network equipment vendors and other prominent networking companies. For more information about the Forum, visit the MEF web site at www.MetroEthernetForum.org.
--more-Current Metro Ethernet Forum Members 3Com Corp. (NASDAQ: COMS), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A), Alcatel (NYSE: ALA), Appian Communications, Avaya, Inc. (NYSE: AV), Atrica, Inc., AxONLink, Inc., BellSouth Corp. (NYSE: BLS), Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Ciena Corp. (NASDAQ: CIEN), Cisco Systems, Corning Inc., (NYSE: GLW), Corrigent Systems, CoSine Communications (NASDAQ: COSN), Draka Comteq, Dynarc Inc., Crosswave Communications, Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Fiberintheloop, Foundry Networks (NASDAQ: FDRY), Fujitsu Networks, Hatteras Networks, Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP), Hitachi (NYSE: HIT), Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Internet Photonics, Inc., Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU), Luminous Networks, LuxN, Maple Optical Systems, Metera Networks, METRObility Optical Systems, NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY), Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) , NTT (NYSE: NTT), ONI Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: ONIS), Opthos, Inc., Photonami Inc., PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS), Riverstone Networks (NASDAQ: RSTN), SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC), Sigma Networks, Telseon, Terabeam, Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), TiMetra Inc., TippingPoint Technologies, Unisphere Networks, Inc., Utfors (Stockholm: UTFO.ST), VIPswitch, Vpacket Communications, White Rock Networks, World Wide Packets, Xebeo Communications and Yipes.
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