World's First Service Performance Certification Confirms 'Carrier Ethernet is Ready for Prime Time'

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) today announced the first group of
providers to offer services certified for service quality and
performance. Until now, every program in the history of the industry
has only certified correct functionality, but never the quality of
service.

The implication for enterprise users is that, they can be assured
that MEF14 certified Carrier Ethernet services can support the most
stringent real time communications applications including VOIP and HD
quality videoconferencing.

AT&T, COLT, Embarq, Neon, NTL Telewest, Optimum Lightpath, RCN,
Swisscom, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and VSNL International are now
certified for Carrier Ethernet services compliant with MEF 14 -
Abstract Test Suite for Traffic Management - an impressive spread of
companies, as it includes major US carriers and cable providers as
well as overseas providers. This MEF Certification ensures conformance
to the MEF Quality of Service attributes - a requirement of SLAs
(Service Level Agreements) supporting simultaneous real-time and data
intensive business applications. The certificates will be presented at
a special awards ceremony at NxtComm, Chicago by Nan Chen, the
president of the Metro Ethernet Forum, and Bob Mandeville, president
and founder of Iometrix, the company responsible for the conformance
testing.

"These results confirm that Carrier Ethernet is ready for prime
time" commented Nan Chen. "These were real world test scenarios, the
national network tests ran coast-to-coast, the international ones
spanned the globe using real enterprise networks. Their performance
was within SONET/SDH standards for key multimedia indicators like
delay and jitter, confirming Carrier Ethernet's suitability for
mission critical applications while reducing capital and operating
expenses. And this prestigious group of world-class service providers
receiving the MEF 14 Certification have already been putting Carrier
Ethernet in practice."

Bob Mandeville explained that another world first was that this
certification was also the first and only to test one way traffic
metrics - critical for ensuring successful converged network
applications. He expressed his appreciation for all those applying for
what is the world's first ever service provider certification program,
and the level of commitment that this demanded. "We're talking about
some 48 consecutive business week hours of testing for each and every
one of the 37 services submitted, based on a test plan comprising 170
test cases. Iometrix had to perform such intensive testing over a
3-month period. This was no 'walk in the park' as all services were
subjected to extremely aggressive criteria, representing up to ten
times the standard of typical service level agreements (SLAs). This
represents, for example, less than 6 millisecond delays across the
extended metro area (3.49 msec in the first 25 miles), and voice-grade
delay and jitter figures right up to over 5,000 miles, the longest
circuit we tested."

In keeping with the MEF's attention to services to the enterprise,
all tests were run from an enterprise point of view: field tests using
real circuits on production networks with measurements taken on
simulated customer premises interfaces. Three broad areas were
considered according to the provider's footprint -- metropolitan,
national and international - and the providers had to build truly
representative circuits in every case. All three MEF-defined carrier
Ethernet service, EPL, EVPL and E-LAN, were tested according to the
service portfolios submitted by the service providers seeking
accreditation. It is important to know that all newly MEF 14 certified
service provider services, without exception, have previously received
MEF 9 certification.

The significance of MEF 14 for mission critical business
applications is that it provides clear specifications-based guidelines
for the formulation of SLAs. MEF 14 complements MEF 9 and covers two
sets of MEF Service Attributes, namely "Service Performance" and
"Bandwidth Profiles". The first set comprises three Service
Performance attributes relating to the Ethernet Virtual Circuits
(EVC): frame delay, frame delay variation and frame loss ratio. The
second set, relating to the User Network Interface (UNI) and following
the familiar example of Frame Relay, include four Bandwidth Profile
attributes: CIR (Committed Information Rate), CBS (Committed Burst
Size), EIR (Excess Information Rate), EBS (Excess Burst Size).
Together MEF 9 and MEF 14 cover the complete set of Carrier Ethernet
Service Attributes defined in the core definitional technical document
MEF 10.

Tomorrow's ceremony represents the first wave in a sea change in
telecommunications. In addition to the 11 companies already certified,
five further companies are expecting to be named this summer, with
others queuing to apply. Together the applicants represent a broad
sweep of local, national and international players from across the
globe.

"The testing process adheres rigidly to the MEF 14 performance
criteria" added Bob Mandeville, "but it is also a learning opportunity
for the MEF as we keep an eye on other factors too. For example: we
were all impressed by the outstanding reliability shown by every
circuit we tested, and noted also that 'R-factor' measurements were
consistently in the 'Excellent' class for voice transmission, even
across the globe. This first round of MEF 14 Service Provider
certifications sends a clear and positive message to the enterprise:
Carrier Ethernet stands up to the scrutiny of standards-based testing
and certainly exceeds our own expectations in terms of sheer
performance."

About the MEF:

The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 120
organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable
MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors
and testing organizations. The MEF's mission is to accelerate the
worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services.
The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and
implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment
of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.

For more information about the Forum, including a complete listing
of all current MEF members, please visit the MEF web site at
http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org/

Editors Note:

The MEF press conference call takes place on Tuesday, June 19th at
11am ET. You may participate in this call "live" or listen to a
recording and download transcripts / presentations at:
www.netevents.tv/docuplayer.asp?docid=109.