Spirent Communications Validates Advanced Carrier Ethernet Interconnects Across Eight European Service Providers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. Spirent Communications, a global leader in test & measurement, today announced it exclusively powered the testing of the Carrier Ethernet Global Interconnect demonstration conducted by EANTC and co-organized by ancotel to validate Carrier Ethernet service interoperability across eight European service providers including Belgacom ICS, Equinix, Expereo International, Level3 Communications, P&TLuxembourg, Teragate, Tinet, and Ucomline. The demonstration will be featured during the Light Reading Ethernet Europe 2010 conference in London, April 12-13.

Interconnectivity between service providers is central to their ability to deliver advanced and scalable Carrier Ethernet services. By implementing interconnect standards such as those specified by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), operators are better prepared to manage and deliver wholesale end-to-end Carrier Ethernet service while maintaining global service level agreements (SLAs).

"Carrier Ethernet Interconnect is critical for service providers that are looking to expand their global foot print by simplifying provisioning and troubleshooting while maintaining SLAs," said Stan Hubbard, senior analyst, Heavy Reading. "Testing and validation by companies such as Spirent has shown that service providers can be confident in their large scale deployment of the MEF specification."

EANTC used Spirent TestCenter to showcase Carrier Ethernet service interoperability across eight service providers and demonstrate that the MEF's External Network-to-Network Interface (ENNI) specification and multi-provider Class of Service (CoS) implementation options are ready for prime time deployment. "The Global Interconnect Demonstration is central to advancing the successful implementation of Carrier Ethernet interconnects in service provider networks," said Carsten Rossenh??vel, managing director of EANTC AG. "By working with Spirent, a leader in testing Ethernet technologies, we were able to evaluate key ENNI functionality aspects as well as SLA support through Class of Service mapping."

Spirent enables service providers to quickly validate the performance of Carrier Ethernet services delivery by testing with test suites for MEF specification. Spirent delivers pre-built test suites for testing Carrier Ethernet conformance and performance testing. In addition to supporting MEF standards on Spirent TestCenter, Spirent offers Spirent TestCenter Live, the only integrated test and diagnostic, and performance monitoring solution that is fully compliant with standards such as ITU Y.1731 and IEEE 802.1ag.