Mid-Band Ethernet

Mid-Band Ethernet is already being used in a variety of applications. First, MBE Services can provide the last mile access for all enterprise Ethernet services including point-to-point E-Line service, multipoint-to-multipoint transparent E-LAN service, and high speed commercial Internet. Furthermore, because the services provide full VLAN support, multiple end-to-end connections may be delivered over the same Mid-Band Ethernet service. Second, with the growth of mobile voice and data services, fixed wireless services based on WiFi and WiMax, and DSLAM based services, capacity requirements from the base station or access point to the nearest switching POP are expanding. Mid-Band Ethernet Services provide a cost effective, resilient, rapidly deployable alternative to the cost and complexity of laying fiber to extend the reach of metro Ethernet Services.

The most significant benefit of Mid-Band Ethernet Services using Ethernet Service Edge solutions is the ability to readily serve the nearly 90% of business locations not currently served by fiber. A huge incremental revenue opportunity is opened up without huge fiber deployment costs. And as surveys have that Ethernet networks are at least 23% less costly to operate than ATM or TDM networks, the simplicity and consistency of Mid-Band Ethernet Services over 2BASE-TL bring large added savings in operating expenses to complement the capital savings and new revenue.

Mid-band Ethernet Services fill a huge gap in the service catalog today. They target the 2-45 Mbps sweet spot between T1/E1 and T3/E3 at a price below existing TDM-based services, have higher margins, can be rapidly and cost effectively deployed over the existing copper infrastructure, and as native Ethernet technology, can be readily integrated into enterprise networks and carrier Ethernets. They can be packaged into end-to-end solutions that will attract high value customers based on performance and price and allow the provider to offer a consistent, universal Ethernet offering to any location.