{"id":65016,"date":"2012-11-25T10:41:52","date_gmt":"2012-11-25T08:41:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=65016"},"modified":"2012-11-25T10:43:04","modified_gmt":"2012-11-25T08:43:04","slug":"ethernet-standards-needed-in-sa-mef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/telecoms\/65016-ethernet-standards-needed-in-sa-mef.html","title":{"rendered":"Ethernet standards needed in SA: MEF"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF<\/a>) is meeting with South African telecommunications industry players to introduce their international standards for carrier-grade Ethernet to the SA market.<\/p>\n

Chief operating officer of the MEF, Kevin Vachon<\/a>, explained that they like to reach into markets that are in a relatively early stage of metro Ethernet adoption and talk to the local industry about global trends in the space.<\/p>\n

Vachon said that there is an \u201cawful lot\u201d going on in the South African market with regards to Ethernet, with most of the service providers in the process of getting organised to offer a standards-based product to market.<\/p>\n

He remarked that the markets slowest to adopt MEF standards have historically been ones that lack competition. \u201cWhen there is a competitive environment then things move fast,\u201d Vachon said. This is because it is usually non-incumbents that initiate carrier-Ethernet adoption, he explained.<\/p>\n

Gary Williams<\/a>, co-chair of South African marketing for the MEF and head of pre-sales engineering at Metrofibre Networx<\/a>, said that South Africa needs a carrier Ethernet exchange.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin

Kevin Vachon, Chief Operating Officer of the MEF<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSo we don\u2019t have these big STM\u20131 pipes coming in,\u201d Williams said. He said that Ethernet makes bandwidth \u201ceasier to slice up,\u201d meaning smaller ISPs can get smaller amounts of bandwidth more easily and compete more effectively.<\/p>\n

When queried on how many South African carriers need to become MEF members for this to become effective, Williams said that they need \u201call the big guys\u201d.<\/p>\n

All the players providing the networks have to adopt the standard for MEF\u2019s efforts to be effective, Williams said.<\/p>\n

Asked about South Africa\u2019s current state of play, with Telkom rolling out metro Ethernet fibre links to some of its exchanges, Williams explained that MEF standards offer benefits such as transparent service-level agreements.<\/p>\n

If more operators adopt MEF standards and become MEF members, Williams said it would result in a number of benefits:<\/p>\n