Visit Global Crossing on Stand 222 at IP Expo, 7-8 October, Earls Court , London. Registration is Free and takes minutes to complete for individuals and teams alike.

Network speeds over the last few years have gone through a revolution. They have moved from a privilege that was only bestowed upon first world countries and large corporations to something that is now available to everyone. The result of this blanket connectivity is it has started an arms race amongst the big telco networks for the next best thing. Customers now want high connection speeds alongside a reliable service and the winner, from what we can see, is surprisingly Ethernet.

Currently Ethernet is rapidly becoming the primary communications technology of choice for organisations of all sizes in the UK – and it makes complete sense. Most businesses already have Ethernet Local Area Networks (LAN) that they have grown to rely on due to its performance, flexibility and relatively low cost. If it can give those advantages and works perfectly in a LAN, why not extend it beyond the office or campus out into the city, the county or even around the globe?  The driver for this transformation that we can see is Ethernet has already become the preferred transport for many advanced services…

IP telephony, video streaming, medical imaging, and data storage all run locally via Ethernet so why not expand to the rest of your IT and telecoms infrastructure? Other reasons for its popularity is the ease of adding bandwidth in small increments, potential lower costs and interoperability with traditional broadband access technologies used over the Wide Area Network (WAN). In addition, because Ethernet is a mature technology, most enterprises already have people on staff with Ethernet management skills, avoiding the need for additional training or hiring in specialist expertise.

The increasing demand for data communications is forcing enterprises of all sizes to re-evaluate their current networks and consider Ethernet as an option to cure their bandwidth woes. With next-generation enterprise applications – such as disaster recovery, storage, and packet voice and video – further driving steep increases in bandwidth demand, traditional data services on legacy technologies such as private line, Frame Relay, and ATM simply won’t do. With fibre to the home and fibre to the curb still a dream for most of the UK and European countries, expect to see the internet paved with Ethernet – well for the time being anyway.

Seminar Sessions at IP Expo : Why Layer 2 and Layer 3 Interworking Makes Sense
10.30am  – 11.00am 7 & 8 October – Wireless & Fixed Network Management Theatre