Fibernet invests in capital RPR
Carrier adapts London metropolitan network to support Resilient Packet Ring
Carrier Fibernet is adapting its London metropolitan network to support Resilient Packet Ring (RPR), which will allow the company and its resellers to offer Ethernet connectivity to customers.
Other service providers are already offering Ethernet but use a variety of different ways to get it to the customer's front door.
RPR appears similar to a switched Ethernet network, and is emerging as an alternative to ATM and Frame Relay connections.
According to analysts, the technology removes a layer of management needed to make traditional telecoms networks work with modern Ethernet LANs.
"We have the technology deployed nationally, so it's available from pretty much all of our 100 points of presence," said Nigel Pitcher, Fibernet's marketing director.
"We are now deploying to our London fibre. We have already built separate, private, RPR networks using dedicated fibre for Symbian and the Co-operative Bank in Manchester."
Symbian, a mobile operating system developer, is using the technology to run a dedicated network to its development offices in Cambridge.
RPR is nearing ratification as an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers standard, said Iain Stevenson, Ovum's research director for next-generation networks.
"Not all operators are going for RPR because it's not the only way to provide Ethernet," he said.
"Alternatives include Ethernet switching and SDH. RPR is more reliable, in theory, than Ethernet switching, but it's not on a par with SDH yet. But it shows signs of getting there."
Pitcher said firms were looking at RPR as their ATM and Frame Relay contracts ended.
"From our resellers' point of view, there will be an awful lot of companies that want to build their own networks. This is an alternative to reselling Megastream," he said.
However, Stevenson said there are alternatives. "If you are a carrier with lots of SDH and you want to offer Ethernet over SDH, it makes more sense to just plug upgrade cards into your multiplexers," he explained.
"This isn't necessarily a new market for bandwidth, although it is an opportunity for new services."
Service provider Easynet is one firm that has used its existing SDH network to build Ethernet services.
"We have put a lot of boxes on SDH networks to provide Ethernet already," said Martin Saunders, head of products at Easynet.
"For us, the great advantage is that the network we have has been lit in the past few years, so we have plenty of bandwidth.
"Using SDH underneath, we can get the sort of quality of Ethernet transport you would associate with SDH."