MEF 14 Certification Makes Carrier Ethernet the Technology of Choice for Mission Critical Applications

"Carrier Ethernet is now the front-running technology for
mission-critical real-time services including VoIP, disaster recovery,
conferencing and enterprise applications." This was the message
delivered by Nan Chen, President of the Metro Ethernet Forum as he
launched the MEF 14 Service Provider Certification Program today. He
also pointed out that this is the first time in the history of the
telecommunications industry that any forum had put its technical
specifications to verification, not just in functionality, but in
terms of actual service delivery and performance. "Carrier Ethernet
doesn't just deliver - from today it delivers to globally recognized
service level specifications" he stated.

"Ethernet is on track toward metro service dominance, as service
providers continue to look for ways to reduce operating expenditures
and enable new revenue streams," says Michael Howard, principal
analyst of Infonetics Research and lead author of a just-released
worldwide service provider study. "And now that the number one
technical issue that was plaguing service providers rolling out metro
Ethernet networks last year--QoS--is being addressed by manufacturers,
and proven by the MEF 14 testing, the Ethernet adoption curve is
speeding up. Manufacturers have added many new QoS features, improving
end-to-end QoS with carrier-class Ethernet products, and service
providers depend on the MEF testing to insure that these adhere to the
standards."

"Our customers are moving rapidly towards converged network
architectures" confirms Tom Roche, vice president, marketing, for
network voice and data services, Verizon Business. "With the
announcement of MEF 14 testing for service providers, enterprises will
feel confident that their providers' Carrier Ethernet services can
support mission critical and converged applications such as ERP, VoIP,
videoconferencing and business continuity".

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx), for example, has created
Asia's largest mission critical IP-enabled securities and derivatives
market network integrating their four major market systems. Gary Chow,
Managing Director, Commercial Group, PCCW, said," PCCW's world-class
network, using Carrier Ethernet for mission critical applications,
provides end-to-end managed services to Hong Kong's major financial
institutions. With the MEF's five "Carrier Class" attributes
(Standardized Services, Scalability, Reliability, Quality of Service
and Service Management) Carrier Ethernet ensures a flexible, scalable,
cost-effective, secure and reliable real-time trading foundation and
path way for future development."

MEF 14 (Abstract Test Suite for Traffic Management) ensures
conformance to the MEF Quality of Service attributes, which provides a
foundation for the implementation of Service Provider operational and
performance SLA's (Service Level Agreements) supporting simultaneous
real-time and data-intensive business applications.

MEF 14 completes MEF 9 (Abstract Test Suite for Ethernet Services
at the UNI) by adding requirements and test procedures for Service
Performance and Bandwidth Profile Service Attributes defined in MEF
10. These include three EVC Related Performance Service Attributes -
Frame Delay Performance, Frame Delay Variation Performance, and Frame
Loss Ratio Performance - as well as Bandwidth Profile Service
Attributes defined per Ingress UNI, per EVC, and per Class of Service.

"MEF 14 certification testing is based on our Iometrix Test Plan
for Traffic Management which has a total of 170 Test Cases covering
EPL, EVPL and E-LAN services" according to Bob Mandeville - President
of Iometrix testing labs. "Service Providers' Carrier Ethernet must
pass no less than 414 individual test cases before being granted MEF 9
and 14 certification.

Ken Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President, Time Warner Cable Business
Class commented: "Our customers rely on the benefits of carrier-class
Ethernet and TWC's recent MEF-9 certification is further validation of
our commitment to provide reliable and robust Ethernet services. Time
Warner Cable is now evaluating MEF-14 performance specifications and
their potential to provide further advancements to our customers."

"Verizon is proud to be among the first to commit to this program"
added Tom Roche, vice president, marketing, for network voice and data
services, Verizon Business. "Our business customers demand strict
performance and bandwidth, and Quality of Service is a critical
attribute to ensure that Carrier Ethernet services will deliver
those". Other companies wanting to apply should contact Iometrix at
certification@iometrix.com or obtain further detail on the MEF website
www.metroetherntforum.org.

About The Metro Ethernet Forum:

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) is a global industry alliance
comprising more than 90 organizations including telecommunications
service providers, 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
www.MetroEthernetForum.org

For photos and PPT presentation, please visit
www.zonicgroup.com/press_resources/MEF