When it comes to delivering Ethernet service, it’s clear that fiber, which offers unlimited bandwidth capabilities, is the best medium. However, the reality is that no service provider can economically trench fiber into every building....

First, XO will use Ethernet over Copper as a transport mechanism for DID (dedicated Internet access) in 10 to 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 10 Gpbs increments, in addition to MPLS VPNs, and VoIP services. Second, XO will offer Ethernet as a Layer-2 WAN service, a service gaining interest from enterprises to connect multiple branch office sites. “What’s so exciting about Ethernet over copper technology is it gives us about a 20-fold increase in customers or prospects that we can reach with at least a 10 Mbps Ethernet service,” Spooner said. “This really helps us gets to a lot more customers.”

Rosemary Cochran, principal at Vertical Systems Group said in an earlier interview with Telecommunications® Magazine that leveraging existing copper to deliver Ethernet services is really a no-brainer. “Whether service providers are using bonding with Overture or raw copper with Hatteras, you’re more likely to get copper into a building,” Cochran explains. “Every building has something in it, so copper is the lowest common denominator for a wireline service where something can be done, but the question is how you get there. In terms of the demand, it’s there, and customers don’t care how it happens.”...

According to Vertical Systems, only 13.4 percent of buildings have access to fiber facilities, while the other 86.6 percent (mainly small to medium enterprises) can’t get access to fiber. That leaves a large percentage of smaller enterprise buildings and enterprises that could be smaller offices of the same large customers as potential candidates for Ethernet service.

Complete article on Telecommunications Online

A print version of this article can be found in the May 2007 Telecommunications magazine (Vol. 41, No. 5)