More than 50% of European businesses are already using Ethernet services or are seriously considering doing so. These are the findings of a recent survey by leading technology industry commentators Forrester*, based on interviews with 12 major Communications Providers serving corporate customers in the UK and across Europe.

According to Forrester, the results are clear evidence that the technology has reached a new maturity in the eyes of companies that are in the market for effective wide area network (WAN) solutions: marking Ethernet’s advance from the status of ‘early adopter’ purchase into the mainstream.

Two important changes seem to be driving this. Many companies have already ventured away from their legacy data services such as Frame Relay to embrace the potential of IP-based WAN services and are therefore more open to the concept of converged solutions for their networking needs – and particularly if those solutions also come with the bonus of being ‘21CN-ready’. In parallel with this, Ethernet services have become increasingly widely available geographically, as well as offering both higher speeds and important cost savings when compared with the alternative WAN infrastructure technologies available.

* Source: ‘Making Sense of European Ethernet Services’, Forrester (published 1 May 2007) www.forrester.com  


READ BETWEEN THE LINES: BT WHOLESALE ETHERNET

21CN-ready solutions are at the heart of BT W holesale’s product development programme. In recognition of the fast-growing UK demand for Ethernet services, the first product to launch as the part of BT’s Wholesale’s 21C portfolio is BT Wholesale Ethernet.

With scheduled availability from October 07, this native Ethernet service is designed for delivery on the 21^st Century Network and will offer extensive UK availability as the network rolls out, starting at launch with over 40 nodes and with plans already in place for up to 1100 nodes.

Flexibility is a key characteristic. Both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint topologies will be available from the beginning and will be joined by any-to-any options, so enabling you to match the configuration and application needs of virtually any customer.
There will also be a wide choice of fibre access links at speeds of 100Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s and circuit bandwidths initially between 6Mbit/s and 500Mbit/s but with higher speeds planned for subsequent releases.

Read more about BT Wholesale Ethernet in our Product A-Z on btwholesale.com