The Carrier Ethernet advantage explained

There is already a generation of people alive today who will never know a world without e-mail, the Internet and social networking services. Most of them probably don’t even realize they have Carrier Ethernet to thank for it.

As much as consumers get excited about the latest smartphones or tablets, none of these gadgets would mean much if there wasn’t a standard way to support all the data and services that connect them to their work, their personal accounts and each other. Similarly, everyone now recognizes the impact the Internet has had in changing the way all kinds of organizations run their business, but Carrier Ethernet is like the stage crew in a theatre company whose behind-the-scenes work keeps everything happening on stage running smoothly. In other words, life without Carrier Ethernet would be an Internet showstopper.

As the use of Carrier Ethernet accelerates; however, its standards must keep up with a lot more expectations than ever before, including bandwidth, performance and the need to be available across geographies. Fortunately, there is even more activity going on in the background to make sure the Internet everyone knows and loves continues to meet those pressures head-on.

Next month, for example, I’ll be travelling to Washington, D.C. for MEF GEN14, a new,event we’re sponsoring that brings together a wide community of service providers and members of the Metro Ethernet Forum (earlier this year I was elected to the MEF board for the second year in a row). The MEF discusses – and ultimately defines – Carrier Ethernet standards; so no matter how much data moves to the cloud or where business professionals travel, they will have access to online information and the applications they need. Also, Allstream was the first national carrier in Canada to become MEF Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certified this past spring, joining the global community of certified CE2.0 Carriers.

A few weeks ago, an article on Converge Network Digest did a good job of capturing why the MEF’s work is so important, and earlier this year I was interviewed for a video to discuss some of these trends. Watch the clip below to see my take on where Carrier Ethernet is headed.