Over the past quarter century, Ethernet has become the ubiquitous Enterprise LAN technology. Well over 90 percent of all data traffic terminates on an Ethernet port. Rarely has any data technology proven so simple, flexible and cost-effective·or so pervasive.

Only in the last three years has Ethernet emerged as an alternative in metro and wide-area packet networks, thanks to the development and mass deployment of full-duplex, optical Gigabit Ethernet technology. All indications are that the same advantages that helped Ethernet prevail in business networks will make it a major if not dominant contender in the wide area.

Businesses continue to hunger for more bandwidth as they put more applications on the Web, exploit the cost advantages of distance learning and streaming media, and take advantage of the security and flexibility of storage-area networks. However, many enterprises are frustrated by the great expense and complexity of provisioning and maintaining high-bandwidth circuits with traditional technologies, such as SONET-based TDM, Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). The result is a disconnect between gigabit office LANs and the giant data pipelines that now criss-cross the globe.

Traditional service approaches have several notable shortcomings:

Typically based on an underlying infrastructure optimized for TDM-based voice services, they offer rigid bandwidth increments: T1 (1.54 Megabits per second), multiples of T1, DS3 (45 Mbps), OC-3 (155) Mbps, OC-12 (622 Mbps) and OC-48 (2.4 Gbps). Bundled T1 (NxT1) and fractional DS3 services are deployed as work-arounds to the rigid bandwidth problem. These work-arounds are expensive and are not scalable as business needs grow. The artificial scaling in granularity of TDM is the result of a legacy telephone architecture and produces huge gaps in data bandwidth levels that bear no relation to actual customer needs.

Such legacy services typically require thousands of dollars in up-front customer investments in customer-premise equipment, such as ATM router interfaces or Frame Relay Access Devices (FRADs). Subsequent service changes may render CPE obsolete, requiring a new round of customer investment.

Long lead times of up to several months in provisioning services force enterprises to predict their future bandwidth needs when ordering circuits. An inaccurate prediction can saddle the firm with excessive costs or too little bandwidth and no quick remedy. The faster a firm's bandwidth needs are growing (or shrinking), the tougher such planning becomes and the more quickly any circuits will become obsolete, requiring a costly new provisioning cycle.

Enterprises must hire or train staff to design, procure, test, install, manage, and maintain specialized WAN technologies, CPE platforms and management systems. Specialized staffing can represent a large fraction of the total cost of maintaining WAN connectivity with legacy technology. Met-Net's Optical Ethernet offers powerful remedies for each of these ailments by using cost-effective, highly reliable, gigabit Ethernet switches and routers with optical interfaces that transmit signals 120 kilometers without regeneration. Met-Net employs advanced technology and standards not previously available to first-generation Ethernet or legacy service providers. These standards include the use of MPLS, true multipoint connectivity, bursting capabilities, Class of Service and other standards based features for true carrier-class networking functionality. Met-Net's optical Ethernet network can handle the various and changing needs of enterprises for Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) or Internet access with far greater flexibility, simplicity and affordability than previously available.

Met-Net's service offers finely granular scalability from 1 Mbps to 1 Gbps, in increments as small as 1 Mbps. While some Ethernet carriers offer services only at typical LAN speeds (10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1,000 Mbps), Met-Net offers committed information rates in 1 Mbps increments, with low (and guaranteed) roundtrip latency and packet loss.

Met-Net can change bandwidth levels on any link in its network within a matter of seconds. This flexibility has profound implications for enterprise customers. Met-Net customers can buy only the service level they need, knowing that they can quickly modify their order if the need arises. Met-Net customers can even order more bandwidth on short notice for temporary applications, such as video conferencing or storage backups.

Because Met-Net services are delivered over a simple Ethernet interface, customers require only an Ethernet port on a low-cost layer 2/3 LAN switch instead of expensive and complex WAN interfaces. And unlike outmoded WAN interfaces, the Met-Net's equipment need not be replaced as service levels change. After 25 years of refinement and near ubiquitous worldwide deployment, Ethernet interfaces are typically 25 percent to 40 percent less expensive per Mbps of bandwidth than TDM, Frame Relay and ATM ports, and up to ten times less expensive than high-speed SONET interfaces. According to recent studies conducted by Gartner Group and Yankee Group, Ethernet switching costs will continue to decrease approximately 30 percent year over year thanks to powerful economies of scale.

With Ethernet services, enterprise IT departments can save time and money by focusing on their core competency Ethernet-based LANs, or routed Intranet connections instead of mastering the arcana of legacy WAN interfaces.

Just how substantial are these advantages? A recent study by Network Strategy Partners LLC supports the conclusion that Met-Net's superior technology and business model can potentially save customers 70 percent on price alone, depending on total bandwidth consumed and number of sites served. And these savings do not even count reduced operational costs and capital expenditures, as well as drastically curtailed service delivery lead-times, made possible by optical Ethernet.