OIF holds on-demand Ethernet demo

The Optical Internetworking Forum of Fremont, Calif., is holding a global on-demand Ethernet demonstration involving multiple network operators and vendors from around the world. On-demand services--Ethernet, video and other applications--represent a general trend driven by Web 2.0 service models that allow easier, more flexible options, but also by increasing telecom competition.

If telcos can activate services more dynamically and quickly (a traditional challenge), they might retain customers they would have lost, or even win a few new ones. However, for all their progress deploying Ethernet ports, provisioning and managing Ethernet services is a new science to operators of legacy circuit-switched networks. Carriers and vendors have not worked through all of the gritty interoperability issues to make on-demand service access a seamless process.

This is where events like the OIF demo come in. New IP-based network elements need to co-exist and interoperate with legacy elements to make on-demand services happen. The industry gets picked on for lingering too long over standards and lab tests, but the process is a large part of what makes telecom service so reliable and valuable.

For More:
- Telecommunications has more about the OIF demonstration