Garrett Hess

But the new unprotected service, by eliminating a lot of processing required to provide for optical Layer 2 protection, uses a cheaper add/drop multiplexer unit at the customer premises, says Garrett Hess, senior product manager for Ethernet services at XO.

"With some competitors now offering unprotected service at lower costs, it hurts us when the buyer's decision is made on the basis of price alone in instances where they don't need five 9s protection or guaranteed bandwidth," Hess says."So it makes sense for us to take this step in order to meet the low-price competition."

XO's move retains the company's focus on Ethernet as a port-to-port LAN extension service, but that's likely to change, Hess says.Asked whether he sees a need to offer Internet access and enhanced applications over the Ethernet connections even with IP VPN and other IP services already in play, he answers, "Absolutely."Storage center interconnection, now provided on an account-by-account basis, is another service the carrier is planning to move into the Ethernet space, he says, noting this will be a national offering employing Fibre Channel "under the Ethernet portfolio."

Low-Cost Options

Of course, nobody is more aggressive about expanding the range of Ethernet services than Yipes Communications Inc.

A pioneer of Ethernet switching to provide high-quality Layer 2 performance with Layer 3 functionality, Yipes obviously is not shy about looking at advanced technologies to accomplish its aims.But even Yipes is making sure it avails itself of the benefits of abundant fiber before plunging into next-generation platforms.

Similarly, XO Communications is launching a new Layer 2 unprotected Ethernet 100mbps and 1gbps service using existing ring infrastructures at low costs, which are incurred only with the signing of a customer, notes Garrett Hess, senior product manager for Ethernet services at XO."We're able to deliver a higher speed service with four 9s reliability at a 30 to 50 percent discount to private line services offered over ATM and frame relay."Demand for private line services, reflected in the growth of customers who have multiple locations they want to reach with the connections, has been remarkably strong, Hess adds.He notes this gives a company with a national footprint an advantage over ones like the ILECs that are bound to a single region."At the start of 2001, we were registering five multiple-location sales per month; by the end of the year the number was 70 to 75 per month," he says.

That's because a big business is to be had serving customers that used to be just out of reach of the fiber, said Garrett Hess, product manager for Ethernet services at XO Communications.

"We've signed up tons of customers already.A service provider like XO is able to keep its costs low by using traditional copper pairs in high-speed DSL and across their networks.Telco costs go down dramatically with the copper pairs and the capex picks up because it's driving out a lot of cost from the network side," he said.

A Bona Fide SolutionCopper bonding, Hess said, is a bona fide solution that lets XO expand its footprint to more remote customers, offer higher bandwidths and save money.And it's easy to do, he said.

"It really is just plugging copper pairs into a box; the box does all the work," he said.

Offering 10-Mbit/s, 100-Mbit/s, and 1-Gbit/s connectivity, XO's Ethernet-over-copper services will allow the company to greatly increase its network footprint, according to Garrett Hess, XO's senior product manager for data services.

"There's a handful of manufacturers who offer boxes that take existing copper pairs and turn each pair into 2.3 Megs of bandwidth, as long as the customer is within 9,000 feet of the LEC wire center," Hess explains.

"When we launched Ethernet services in 2000, we were one of the first for a communications provider, but we were always limited to a narrow footprint via on-net buildings," said Garrett Hess, senior product manager, XO."The Hatteras gear enables us to use copper pairs, which will greatly increase XO's reach.We've already started selling this and are having much success with it.Our sales force is as excited as they ever been over a new service."

The addition of copper-based service to the Ethernet standard in 2004 encouraged XO to explore that option and the company had gear from multiple equipment vendors in its labs before choosing Hatteras, Hess said."From an engineering standpoint, this works the best for us," he said.

By offering a 10 Mb/s Ethernet service over copper wires, XO can address the growing market among small to mid-sized businesses that have outgrown T-1 service but can't afford a 45 Mb/s DS-3 service, Hess said.

"For us, it is our traditional 10-Meg service, with the same quality of service we deliver to on-net buildings," he said.
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XO will sell the service to both its commercial and wholesale customers, Hess added."We think this makes us much more competitive," he said.

But not all customers require the 99.999% availability guarantees that come with XO's existing offerings, says Garrett Hess, XO's senior product manager for Ethernet services.

XO's unprotected Ethernet services, available at 100M bit/sec and 1G bit/sec, give customers less redundancy but still include a 99.99% availability service-level agreement.By losing a nine from their reliability, customers will save from 30% to 50% off the cost of a comparable higher-grade service, Hess says.

"You still get guaranteed port-to-port bandwidth," he says."You still get an Ethernet handoff.And there's still no customer-premise equipment cost, and XO manages the service from end to end."

Offering 10-Mbit/s, 100-Mbit/s, and 1-Gbit/s connectivity, XO's Ethernet-over-copper services will allow the company to greatly increase its network footprint, according to Garrett Hess, XO's senior product manager for data services.

"There's a handful of manufacturers who offer boxes that take existing copper pairs and turn each pair into 2.3 Megs of bandwidth, as long as the customer is within 9,000 feet of the LEC wire center," Hess explains.