In the battle to provide metropolitan-area network bandwidth, Ethernet's gentle learning curve and low deployment costs make it a natural contender against carrier-grade broadband technologies such as frame relay and ATM. IT managers understand Ethernet technology, and data can travel as fast as 10 Gbps over fiber. Ethernet also offers the same plug-and-go availability we've enjoyed since the days of 10Base-2. Sounds like a sure thing--well-known technology that can provide high bandwidth to the office.
But few seem to agree with us, as we found when we searched for a candidate to deliver that high-speed, easy-to-use technology to a corporate network. The art of providing customers with metro Ethernet connections needs some tuning, and few companies outside the carrier world can provide the service nationwide. Carriers haven't settled on how to transport IP traffic, dividing their eggs between Ethernet and MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) baskets.
To find out which providers could deliver a high-speed network connection, we created a fictitious company, World Game Federation, with 16 offices around the country. WGF needs high-speed connections among offices, ranging from 10 Mbps to 300 Mbps, links to the Internet, and packetized voice and videoconferencing systems. We used addresses from real multitenant buildings in New York, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco to make our request as realistic as possible.
We limited our participants to nationwide carriers and metropolitan providers, excluding metro-only companies that provide service to a local area or region of the country.
Of the carriers, only Genuity sent a response; BCE Teleglobe, Sprint and WorldCom declined our invitation. Meanwhile, the nationwide metro providers' enthusiasm for this project evaporated before our eyes. Among Cogent Communications, IntelliSpace, Telseon and Yipes, only Cogent sent a response. Yipes promised to participate, but after the company's reorganization, we were unable to reach anyone who could complete our proposal. Telseon decided our company's bandwidth demands were insufficient to justify a buildout. IntelliSpace, meanwhile, strung us along for weeks after the deadline, then provided a last-minute phone briefing rather than a written reply. We opted out, as we're certain you would if a company refused to commit its pitch to paper. IntelliSpace told us that if a project does not make money for the company, it isn't interested in pursuing that project. Fair enough, but we can't help but wonder if you'd be left hanging, too.
Cogent's and Genuity's responses gave us an interesting opportunity to compare old, reliable technology with something new. Although the concept of Ethernet-to-premises for enterprise customers looks promising, Cogent's Ethernet solution needs work. Its baseline prices are far higher than Genuity's, and though customers get much more bandwidth at those prices, they're left on their own for critical elements--such as security and extra storage--of a complete MAN.
In contrast, Genuity provided a complete solution with good baseline pricing, and though customers pay dearly for the carrier's extras, they at least have the option of one-stop shopping. Considering the fallout we experienced with the other metro Ethernet providers, we conclude that carriers relying on tried-and-true TDM (time-division multiplexing) technology are currently in the best position to provide nationwide enterprise bandwidth capacity.
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