CENX, EXFO develop off-net Ethernet SLA monitoring tool

EXFO's (Nasdaq: EXFO) new partnership with carrier Ethernet exchange provider CENX to create a new off-net service level agreement (SLA) monitoring for carrier Ethernet services is a response to the difficult challenges service providers face in ensuring their service works as advertised when they have to establish an External-Network to Network Interface (E-NNI) with a partner carrier.  

Service providers that had to monitor off-net Ethernet locations that ran on circuits it purchased from another service provider partner, had no choice but to either "run blind" with no ability to monitor Ethernet service quality at these locations or were forced to buy expensive customer premise monitoring equipment. While buying extra monitoring equipment was better than running blind, the service provider had to incur the costs of not only deploying, but conducting maintenance  respective off-net locations.

This new capability "allows a service provider to deliver an on-net experience for their off-net customer locations without the huge cost overhead of deploying additional monitoring equipment," said Nan Chen, President of CENX in a release.

By integrating EXFO's service assurance technology into its exchange, CENX will proactively monitor each Ethernet virtual connection (EVC) from the CENX exchange to the off-net Ethernet service locations (ESLs). The new service makes use of EXFO's BrixNGN Carrier Ethernet Service Assurance System, which leverages assets EXFO bought off the former Brix Networks, a vendor-agnostic methodology to monitor any EVC regardless of what vendor's demarcation point equipment is used to deliver the service to the customer.  

Ethernet service providers and sellers will be able to access both real time and historical SLA degradation issues through either CENX's market web interface or via open APIs directly into their operational support systems (OSS).

For more:
- see the release here

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