Michael Howard Providers Quotations

More and more of the products are going to become 'carrier Ethernet,' because manufacturers aren't going to be able to sell them to service providers unless they have all these features.

Based on our recent service provider studies, we see an intertwining of MPLS and Ethernet -- most providers of metro services are using or planning MPLS as a standard approach for augmenting and scaling their Layer 2 services. A cost-effective solution that has a mix of Layer 2, routing, and MPLS capabilities will help give these service providers the flexibility to expand their customer reach and increase revenue.

Cisco has laid out a vision and architecture for Carrier Ethernet that provides service providers a broad selection of flexible options across all network domains. Cisco announced products today that deliver a number of important network services at cost-effective price points, adding to Cisco's already large portfolio.