Orange Business Services: Weaving the Ethernet fabric - Global Ethernet Report

Dennis Kruse, who may have a lot on his plate these days serving simultaneous roles as the VP of network solutions for Orange Business Services and the chairman of the Metro Ethernet Forum, thinks his company's approach to expanding global Ethernet services gives it an advantage over other Ethernet players.  
 
"I think the thing that sets us apart globally, especially if you look at Europe and Asia, is that we don't have to run a lot of long-haul private lines to make that connection out to the customer as much as some of our competitors," he said. "Everyone has pretty much announced this as a technology, but some of our's are further along than others in that we are really deploying the switching fabric in all the right places."

As it continues to establish maintaining momentum as a global Ethernet provider, Orange has embarked on a network build process that combines building out its own facilities and a solid set of off-net last mile service provider relationships it has with other local providers in the markets it serves.  
 
To make good on this promise, Orange Business since January has been strategically installing Alcatel Lucent 7750 routers with support for Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS) capabilities in its existing global Points of Presence (POPs).

And this work is paying off for Orange. According to a recent report [1] by Vertical Systems Group, Orange ranks second on the Global Business Ethernet Services Leaderboard.

The service provider continues to expand its Ethernet footprint. It recently launched its International Ethernet Link in response to the growing need from Multi National Corporations (MNCs) to have Ethernet services that can connect to any of their diverse locations. 

Orange Business' new Ethernet service, which offers Ethernet services to 32 countries, is supported by a next-gen VPLS network. The new service incorporates four new functions: higher speeds, four classes of service with bandwidth management, service level agreements and custom support.

Orange has not only been expanding its Ethernet presence through building out its own fiber and respective Ethernet switching facilities, but also establishing network access and Ethernet-Network to Network Interconnection (E-NNI) agreements with other local service provider partners.

In certifying its access arrangements, Orange not only ensures the viability of the physical network facilities but also business aspects and customer care such as trouble ticketing, Ethernet handoffs and QoS.

Again, Kruse said that its well-entrenched global footprint continues to help it get the right fiber connections it needs as it expands Ethernet in existing and new markets.

"We have to certify and interconnect these networks between our WAN and their local network," he said. "We've done quite a bit of that in the past just as Ethernet access to our IP/VPN service. When we did that we put our own Ethernet fabric in our POPs to interconnect with those local Ethernet providers even before we turned on our wide area network service."