Ethernet standards

The Electronic Library

ISSN: 0264-0473

Article publication date: 1 October 2004

115

Citation

(2004), "Ethernet standards", The Electronic Library, Vol. 22 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/el.2004.26322eab.005

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Ethernet standards

Ethernet standards

ITU has approved a set of global industry standards for Ethernet that will extend its flexibility and simplicity to carrier networks. The standards outline a way for Ethernet – a widely used local area network (LAN) – to link any number of endpoints in a wide area network (WAN), or simply as a service delivery mechanism.

The news marks Ethernet’s progress from a LAN connectivity technology to a carrier class service delivery technology. The ability to offer Ethernet services means that carriers will be able to offer considerably improved flexibility to customers through a much simpler and lower cost interface. It will allow users to specify exactly how much bandwidth they want between the 10 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s range currently offered. Further, the standards provide reduced operation complexity and improved scalability for carriers.

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