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Analysis: Carrier Ethernet: Page 3 of 11

As mentioned, last-mile connectivity is a big part of the still-high cost of Carrier Ethernet. To offset the hit to enterprises, Qwest told us it might eat some of the expenses if it can resell services to other customers locally, or initial costs maybe rolled into the monthly charge. Paying for last-mile installation over 36 months may be more palatable than forking over big money up-front.

When building RFIs for multiple providers, structure cost charts so you can make apples-to-apples comparisons. Insist on a detailed breakdown to ensure you know exactly what you're paying for, both in upfront and monthly recurring charges.

Building Blocks

One of Carrier Ethernet's charms is the familiar technology behind it. Rather than having a digital line terminated at an edge router or frame relay access device at the customer location, handoff is 802.3 Ethernet, allowing for support of common and critical protocols like 802.1Q VLAN and 802.1p prioritization.

A Carrier Ethernet network can be treated like a switch: packets enter and exit as Ethernet frames. Within a single metro area, frames are switched through the cloud. For long-haul links between cities, frames are encapsulated in a VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service) using Multiprotocol Label Switching, L2TPv3 or GRE to create the network.