Developments and current trends in Ethernet technology

Abstract

Ethernet technologies continue to evolve. This paper presents overview of the current major advancements and developments of Ethernet technology and its appropriate standards, such as Higher Speed Ethernet (40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet), Carrier Ethernet technologies (implemented by carriers and service providers), Energy Efficient Ethernet (Green Ethernet) technologies, Power over Ethernet Plus, and others. In this paper is also shown some implementations of different new Ethernet standards and features by major vendors of network equipment (Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Huawei and others).

Full text

Developments and current trends in Ethernet
technology
D. Valenčić*, V. Lebinac* and S. Skendžić**
* University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica, Velika Gorica, Croatia
** University of Applied Sciences Nikola Tesla, Gospić, Croatia
davorin.valencic@vvg.hr, vladimir.lebinac@vvg.hr, wireless82@gmail.com
Abstract - Ethernet technologies continue to evolve. This
paper presents overview of the current major advancements
and developments of Ethernet technology and its
appropriate standards, such as Higher Speed Ethernet (40
Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet), Carrier Ethernet
technologies (implemented by carriers and service
providers), Energy Efficient Ethernet (Green Ethernet)
technologies, Power over Ethernet Plus, and others. In this
paper is also shown some implementations of different new
Ethernet standards and features by major vendors of
network equipment (Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Huawei and
others).
I. INTRODUCTION
Ethernet is family of networking technologies initially
developed for wired LAN networks implementation.
Ethernet is networking technology that covers first two
layers of OSI reference model. Ethernet dominance is
based on low cost, easy to configure and deploy
equipment.
Since its introduction almost 40 years ago, Ethernet
was several times claimed as an obsolete technology that
should be replaced with (at that time) new emerging
technologies, for example Token Ring, FDDI, Emulated
LAN. Anyway, Ethernet has not only survived, but also it
was significantly developed and several new
implementations were introduced so that today Ethernet is
the most widely spread wired networking technology.
All the Ethernet improvements had to preserve 802.3
Ethernet frame format utilizing the 802.3 media access
controller (MAC), based on CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense
Multiple access / Collision Detection).
The latest revision of base standard IEEE 802.3-2012
was approved in September 2012. In this paper we will
have a closer look to the following improvements of
Ethernet that are included into the IEEE 802.3-2012
Ethernet standard:
 IEEE 802.3ba (40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet)
approved on June 17, 2010.
 IEEE 802.3at (Power over Ethernet Plus)
approved in September 30, 2009.
 IEEE 802.3az (Energy Efficient Ethernet)
approved on September 30, 2010.
Also in this paper there will be briefly reviewed
Carrier Ethernet as extension of Ethernet from LAN to
MAN/WAN networks and as a new area of Ethernet
expansion. Also there has been shown some examples of
implementations of analyzed Ethernet improvements by
major vendors of network equipment (Cisco, Juniper,
Brocade, Huawei and others). In this paper are not
analyzed numerous non-standard and proprietary Ethernet
schemes and solutions developed by Ethernet equipment
vendors.
II. IEEE 802.3 STANDARD AND ETHERNET
EVOLUTION
IEEE 802.3 standard was first published in 1985 [1].
Since the initial publication, many projects have added
functionality or provided maintenance updates to the
specifications and text included in the standard. Each
IEEE 802.3 project/amendment is identified with a suffix
(e.g., suffix “ba” released in year 2010 in amendment of
standard IEEE 802.3ba-2010).
The Media Access Control (MAC) protocol specified
in IEEE 802.3 is Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA/CD). This MAC protocol was
included in the experimental Ethernet developed at Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center. While the experimental
Ethernet had a 2.94 Mb/s data rate, IEEE 802.3-1985
specified operation at 10 Mb/s.
Since 1985 new media options, new operation speeds,
and new capabilities have been added to IEEE 802.3
standard. For example:
 IEEE 802.3u added 100 Mb/s operation (also
called Fast Ethernet),
 IEEE 802.3x specified full duplex operation and a
flow control protocol,
 IEEE 802.3z added 1000 Mb/s operation (also
called Gigabit Ethernet),
 IEEE Std 802.3ae added 10 Gbit/s operation (also
called 10 Gigabit Ethernet),
 IEEE 802.3ah specified access network Ethernet
(also called Ethernet in the First Mile).
The latest IEEE 802.3 – 2012 revision approved by the
IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) incorporates

various technical updates and enhancements and
consolidates a host of amendments to the base standard
that were approved since IEEE 802.3's last full revision, in
2008.
Since publishing of the standard IEEE 802.3-2008,
several new standards (as amendments to IEEE 802.3-
2008 standard) have been issued and maintained as
separate documents. Amendments addressing, energy
efficiency, extension to 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s speeds,
10 Gbit/s Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPONs)
while maintaining compatibility with previously installed
IEEE 802.3 interfaces, enhanced support for loss-sensitive
applications and time synchronization are among those
that have been incorporated into IEEE 802.3-2012.
III. 40 GIGABIT ETHERNET AND 100 GIGABIT
ETHERNET
The growth in bandwidth for network aggregation
applications was found to be outpacing the capabilities of
networks employing link aggregation with 10 Gigabit
Ethernet. In 2006, the IEEE 802.3 working group formed
the Higher Speed Study Group (HSSG) and found that the
Ethernet ecosystem needed something faster than 10
Gigabit Ethernet. HSSG determined that two new rates
were needed: 40 gigabit per second for server and
computing applications and 100 gigabit per second for
network aggregation applications.
The IEEE 802.3ba 40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet
amendment to the IEEE 802.3-2008 Ethernet standard was
approved on June 17, 2010 by the IEEE Standards
Association Standards Board.
The IEEE 802.3ba standard offers a single architecture
capable of supporting both 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet,
while producing physical layer specifications for
communication across backplanes, copper cabling, multi-
mode fiber, and single-mode fiber. This chapter provides a
brief overview of 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet underlying
technologies.
A. IEEE 802.3ba - 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet
The objectives that drove the development of IEEE
802.3ba standard are the following [2]:
 Support the full duplex Ethernet MAC.
 Preserve the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet frame format
utilizing the IEEE 802.3 MAC.
 Preserve minimum and maximum frame size of
IEEE 802.3 standard.
 Support a BER better than or equal to 10–12 at the
MAC/physical layer service (PLS) service
interface.
 Provide appropriate support for Optical Transport
Network (OTN).
 Support a MAC data rate of 40 Gb/s.
 Provide Physical Layer specifications that support
40 Gb/s operation over up to the following:
o At least 10 km on single-mode fiber
(SMF)
o At least 100 m on OM3 multimode fiber
(MMF)
o At least 7 m over a copper cable
assembly
o At least 1 m over a backplane
 Support a MAC data rate of 100 Gb/s.
 Provide Physical Layer specifications that support
100 Gb/s operation over up to the following:
o At least 40 km on single-mode fiber
(SMF)
o At least 10 km on single-mode fiber
(SMF)
o At least 100 m on OM3 multimode fiber
(MMF)
o At least 7 m over a copper cable
assembly
The IEEE 802.3ba-2010 amendment specifies a single
architecture shown in Figure 1. It accommodates 40
Gigabit Ethernet and 100 Gigabit Ethernet and all of the
physical layer specifications under development. The
MAC layer, which corresponds to Layer 2 of the OSI
model, is connected to the media (optical or copper) by an
Ethernet PHY device, which corresponds to Layer 1 of the
OSI model. The PHY device consists of [3]:
 physical medium dependent (PMD) sublayer,
 physical medium attachment (PMA) sublayer,
 physical coding sublayer (PCS).
The backplane and copper cabling PHYs also include
an auto-negotiation (AN) sublayer and a forward error
correction (FEC) sublayer.
The PCS sublayer translates between the respective
media independent interface (MII) for each rate and the
PMA sublayer. The PCS is responsible for the encoding of
data bits into code groups for transmission via the PMA
and the subsequent decoding of these code groups from
the PMA. The PCS leverages the 64B/66B coding scheme
that was used in 10 Gigabit Ethernet. It provides a number
of useful properties including low overhead and sufficient
Figure 1. IEEE 802.3ba Architecture [3]

code space to support necessary code words, consistent
with 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The transmit PCS performs the
initial 64B/66B encoding and scrambling on the aggregate
channel (40 or 100 gigabits per second) before distributing
66-bit block in a round robin basis across the multiple
lanes.
The PMA sublayer enables the interconnection
between the PCS and any type of PMD sublayer. A PMA
sublayer will also reside on either side of a retimed
interface, referred to as “XLAUI” (40 Gb/s attachment
unit interface) for 40 Gigabit Ethernet or “CAUI” (100
Gb/s attachment unit interface) for 100 Gigabit Ethernet.
XLAUI and CAUI are low pin count physical interfaces
that enables partitioning between the MAC and sublayers
associated with the PHY in a similar way to XAUI in 10
Gigabit Ethernet. They are self-clocked, multi-lane, serial
links utilizing 64B/66B encoding. Each lane operates at an
effective data rate of 10 gigabit per second, which when
64B/66B encoded, results in a signaling rate of 10.3125
gigabaud per second. In the case of XLAUI, there are four
transmit and four receive lanes of 10 Gb/s, resulting in a
total of 8 pairs, or 16 signals. In the case of CAUI, there
are 10 transmit lanes and 10 receive lanes of 10 Gb/s,
resulting in a total of 20 pairs or 40 signals [3].
Regarding the PMD sublayer, different physical layer
specifications for computing and network aggregation
applications have been developed. For computing
applications, physical layer solutions will cover distances
inside the data center for up to 100m for a full range of
server form factors, including blade, rack, and pedestal
configurations. For network aggregation applications, the
physical layer solutions include distances and media
appropriate for data center networking, as well as service
provider inter-connection for intra-office and inter-office
applications. A summary of the physical layer
specifications being developed for each MAC rate is
shown in Table I.
B. Implementation
In the Table II are shown some examples of IEEE
802.3ba standard implementation by networking
equipment vendors, mainly interface cards for core and
data centre switches and routers [4-8].
IV. POWER OVER ETHERNET PLUS
A. IEEE 802.3af - Power over Ethernet (PoE)
The IEEE 802.3af is the standard for Power over
Ethernet (PoE) and it was released in 2003. It helped
increase the value of an Ethernet port by giving the
opportunity of connecting and powering devices such as
IP Phones using a common network infrastructure (mainly
Ethernet switches).
In IEEE 802.3af standard powered devices (PD) refer
to end devices that require power such as IP phones or
WiFi Access Points, while power sourcing equipment
(PSE) are devices that deliver power such as PoE
switches.
The majority of PD number growth comes from IP
phones usage by enterprise customers who are deploying
converged voice and data networks that operate across a
common IP network infrastructure, resulting in cost
saving.
The original IEEE 802.3af standard provides up to
15.4 W of DC power (minimum 44 V DC and 350 mA) to
each device. Only 12.95 W is assured to be available at
the powered device as some power is dissipated in the
cable [9].
B. IEEE 802.3at - Power over Ethernet (PoE) Plus
Increasing number of powered devices required power
greater than the allowable 12.95 W specified in IEEE
802.3af. These powered devices are, for example, IEEE
802.11n WiFi Access Points, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) security
cameras, and IP Phones with advanced features such as
video conferencing. These powered devices benefit from
IEEE P802.3at standard.
The IEEE 802.3at (released in September of 2009) is a
gradual evolutionary improvement to the IEEE 802.3af
standard. The main characteristics of the IEEE 802.3at are
the following [10]:
 The IEEE 802.3at standard provides up to 34.2 W
of DC power to each device (25.5 W is assured to
be available at the powered device).
 IEEE 802.3at use Category 5 (Cat 5) cabling only
(IEEE 802.3af supports Category 3 (Cat 3) and
Cat 5). PoE Plus requires Cat 5 (8-wire) instead of
Cat 3 (4-wire) because more power can be
transmitted over two 4-wire cables.
TABLE I. IEEE 802.3BA PHYSICAL LAYER SPECIFICATIONS [3]
40 GE 100 GE
At least 1m backplane 40GBASE-KR4
At least 7m copper cable 40GBASE-CR4 100GBASE-CR10
At least 100m OM3 MMF 40GBASE-SR4 100GBASE-SR10
At least 150m OM4 MMF 40GBASE-SR4 100GBASE-SR10
At least 10km SMF 40GBASE-LR4 100GBASE-LR10
At least 40km SMF 100GBASE-ER10
TABLE II. IEEE 802.3BA VENDOR IMPLEMENTATIONS
Vendor Equipment
Brocade
12-port 40GE linecard for VDX 8770 switch;
2-port 100GE module for MLX series switching
routers
Cisco
2-port 100GE board and 6-port 40GE module
for Nexus 7000 switch; Nexus 3064-X with 48
1/10GE ports and four 40G links;
40GE module for Catalyst 6500 switch
Extreme 4-port 100G and 12-port 40G modules for
BlackDiamond X8 core switch
Huawei 40GE and 100GE linecards for CloudEngine
12800 series of core switches
Juniper 100GE interface card for T1600 Core Router

 IEEE 802.3at abides to the power safety rules and
limitations pertinent to IEEE 802.3af.
 IEEE 802.3at power sourcing equipment is
compatible with IEEE P802.3af.
 IEEE P802.3at should provide the maximum
power to PD’s as allowed within practical limits.
 IEEE 802.3at defines a powered device MIB for
SNMP management.
IEEE 802.3at provides full backward compatibility
and interoperability to existing 802.3af compliant PSE and
PD equipment. IEEE 802.3at defines the PD classification
to ensure the backwards compatibility [9]:
 Type 1 PD’s are IEEE 802.3af powered devices
and have a maximum wattage requirement of
12.95W.
 Type 2 PD’s which require power from 12.95W
and up to 25.5W.
Type 2 PD’s that cannot operate with less than
12.95W must give indication to user when connected to
Type 1 PSE, while Type 2 PD’s that can operate with less
than 12.95W must be able to be powered by a Type 1 PSE
[9].
Basic parameters and a brief comparison of the IEEE
802.3af and the IEEE 802.3at standards are given in Table
III.
C. Implementation
The migration to the IEEE802.3at is slow but steady as
more vendors determine how to take advantage of higher
power delivered over Ethernet and design and test new
PDs that can take advantage of the higher power. The
IEEE P802.3at standard helps to combine services such as
video used for perimeter security in a single infrastructure.
For example, a close caption TV (CCTV) camera used for
perimeter security requires multi-wiring and analog-based
receiver/recorder such as a VCR. While a pan-tilt-zoom
security camera that supports IEEE P802.3at only requires
one wire, an RJ-45, to capture the scene, transmit the
video, and power the camera. This gives enterprise
customers cost savings, a simplified infrastructure, and
greater security coverage [10].
Some examples of equipment support for the IEEE
802.3az standard are Brocade ICX 6430 and 6450
Switches [4], Cisco UPOE Line Card for Catalyst 4500E
Series switching platform [11], Extreme Networks
Summit X460 Series Ethernet Switches [6], Huawei
S2700 Series Enterprise Switches [7] and Juniper EX
Series Ethernet Switches [8].
V. ENERGY EFFICIENT ETHERNET
There has been a growing focus on the energy usage of
IT devices. The programs to reduce IT energy
consumption have initially concentrated on the areas of
highest energy usage: computers and consumer devices.
However, networking equipment has been identified as
consuming as much as 10% of all IT energy, so it is
logical to consider how networking energy consumption
can be reduced without adversely affecting the critical
functionality that networking performs [12].
The majority of Ethernet links spend much of the time
idle, waiting between packets of data, but consuming
power at a near constant level. Energy Efficient Ethernet
(EEE) provides a mechanism and a standard for reducing
this energy usage without reducing the vital function that
these network interfaces perform. Some companies
introduced technology to reduce the power required for
Ethernet before the standard was ratified, using the name
Green Ethernet.
A. IEEE P802.3az – Energy Efficient Ethernet
The IEEE 802.3az standard was approved on
September 30, 2010. It is the first standard in the history
of Ethernet to address proactive reduction in energy
consumption for networked devices and it is designed to
provide network managers and networking services
consumers with the tools to reduce energy consumption in
network-attached devices, network routers and switches,
computers, and printers.
The IEEE 802.3az standard deals with the mainstream
“BASE-T” interfaces (i.e. 10BASE-T; 100BASE-TX;
1000BASE-T; and 10GBASE-T) that operate over twisted
pair wiring [12]. These interface types comprise the vast
majority of Ethernet deployments, especially at the edge
of networks where the opportunities for energy savings
are maximal. The standard also covers Backplane Ethernet
interfaces used in blade servers (as well as within
proprietary systems) because the amount of change
required for those interfaces was considered minor.
The fundamental idea of EEE is that the
communication link should need to consume power only
when real data is being sent. Most wireline
communications protocols developed since the 1990s have
used continuous transmission - consuming power whether
or not data was being sent. The reasoning behind this was
that the link must be maintained with full bandwidth
signaling so that it is ready to support data transmission at
all times. In order to save energy during times where there
TABLE III. STANDARD POE PARAMETERS AND COMPARISON
Value 802.3af
(802.3at Type 1) 802.3at
Type 2
Max power delivered by PSE 15.40 W 34.20 W
Power available at PD 12.95 W 25.50 W
Voltage range (at PSE) 44.0–57.0 V 50.0–57.0 V
Voltage range (at PD) 37.0–57.0 V 42.5–57.0 V
Maximum current 350 mA 600 mA
Supported cabling Cat 3, Cat5 Cat5
Figure 2. IEEE 802.3ba Architecture [13]

is a gap in the data stream, EEE uses a signaling protocol
that allows a transmitter to indicate that there is a gap in
the data and that the link can go idle. The signaling
protocol is also used to indicate that the link needs to
resume after a pre-defined delay.
The EEE protocol uses a signal that is a modification
of the normal idle that is transmitted between data packets.
This signal is termed low power idle (LPI) [13]. Low
Power Idle (LPI) mode is an optional mode intended to
save power that may be enabled during periods of low link
utilization in which either side of a link may disable
portions of device or system functionality. The transmitter
sends LPI in place of idle to indicate that the link can go
to sleep. After sending LPI for a period (Ts = time to
sleep), the transmitter can stop signaling altogether so that
the link becomes quiescent. Periodically, the transmitter
sends some signals so that the link does not remain
quiescent for too long without a refresh. Finally, when the
transmitter wishes to resume the fully functional link, it
sends normal idle signals. After a pre-determined time
(Tw = time to wake) the link is active and data can be sent
[13].
New Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) TLVs
(type, length, and values) are defined for negotiating
system level energy-efficiency parameters [14]. LLDP
power negotiation allows the PoE controller to
dynamically allocate power to LLDP-enabled powered
devices based on their power needs. The PoE controller
allocates to an interface only the power currently required
by the connected powered device, and it can allocate the
power in small increments. (LLDP was defined in the
IEEE 802.1ab standard initially released in 2005 and
revised in 2009.)
B. Implementation
During the IEEE 802.3az standard development
process, a lot of attention was given to backwards
compatibility. It is deployable in networks where the
majority of equipment uses legacy interfaces and must
also seamlessly support the very wide range of
applications that already run on these networks. Ethernet
interfaces complying with the IEEE 802.3az standard
might not save energy when connecting with older devices
as long as the existing functions are fully supported. This
allows incremental upgrades for networks to increasingly
benefit from EEE as the proportion of EEE equipment
increases.
The standard also recognizes that some network
applications may allow larger amounts of traffic
disturbance and includes a negotiation mechanism to take
advantage of such environments to increase the depth of
energy savings.
EEE represents the beginning of a change of opinion
in networking architecture. Previously it had been
acceptable that networking devices, like the
communications on the links themselves, continue to use
energy at the same rate, regardless of the level of usage.
The standard for EEE defines the signaling necessary for
energy savings during periods where no data is sent on the
interface, but does not define how the energy is saved, nor
mandate a level of savings. This approach allows for a
staged rollout of systems with minimal changes that are
compatible with future developments that extend the
energy savings.
It should be expected that early implementations of the
standard save relatively small amounts of energy
(comparing idle energy to full rate usage). However, these
systems will be compatible with later products that may
save much greater proportions of their energy use. The
early systems may use a simple application of static logic
design in the physical layer devices (PHYs) to save energy
when data is not present. PHYs typically consume
between 20 to 40 percent of the system power, and the
static design methods allow savings of up to 50 percent of
the PHY power. Therefore the expected system-level
savings may be in the range of five to 20 percent [13].
Later generations of networking systems will use more
aggressive energy savings techniques, such as power
islands or voltage scaling. These methods can be applied
to all of the system silicon, extending the range of energy
savings. However, such aggressive techniques require
significant new architecture design and will necessarily
follow much later. With these power savings, an
individual networking system may be able to save as
much as 80 percent of its worst case energy use in certain
situations [13].
Some examples of the support for the IEEE 802.3az
standard by equipment of networking vendors are Brocade
ICX 6430 and 6450 Switches (hardware ready) [4], Cisco
UPOE Line Card for Catalyst 4500E Series switching
platform [11][13], Huawei S9300 series switches [7] and
Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches [8].
VI. CARRIER ETHERNET
Carrier Ethernet is a marketing term for extensions to
Ethernet to MAN and WAN networks in order to enable
telecommunications network providers to provide
Ethernet services to customers and to utilize Ethernet
technology in ISP networks.
Many technologies have been used to deliver metro
and wide-area services. Layer 1 TDM technologies used
to deliver private line services include E1 and E3 copper
circuits, and SDH/SONET-based optical circuits. Layer 2
technologies used to deliver MAN/WAN services include
Frame Relay, ATM and PPP. These legacy technologies
provide inflexible bandwidth scalability because the
bandwidth is dictated by the technology. When a service
provider or enterprise needs to add bandwidth, they either
bond multiple circuits together or upgrade their network
and equipment to support a new technology.
Carrier Ethernet addresses the limitations of legacy
WAN technology by providing flexible bandwidth
scalability. Once an Ethernet service is deployed,
bandwidth can be added simply through remote
provisioning up to the Ethernet port speed. With Carrier
Ethernet, subscribers can use the same, well understood
Ethernet technology for their LAN, MAN and WAN
connections. This reduces costs for the equipment to
connect to the service and also simplifies operations and
training.

A. Ethernet as MAN/WAN technology
Ethernet in his long history has become dominant in
enterprise networks and LAN environment but Ethernet
has traditionally had a number of limitations in the
MAN/WAN application. Ethernet does not scale very well
to MAN/WAN networks as it uses layer 2 MAC
addressing scheme, transparent bridging, spanning tree
protocol and it extends broadcast domain. Moreover,
Ethernet has lacked some of the dependability features
necessary in service provider application, for example
mechanisms to isolate one customer's traffic from another,
to measure performance of a customer service instance,
and to rapidly detect and repair failures in larger networks.
The industry has made a concerted effort to bring the
simplicity and cost model of Ethernet to the wide area
network and to resolve the limitations of Ethernet in the
WAN. Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) was formed in 2001
and today it is a global industry alliance comprising more
than 200 organizations including telecommunications
service providers, network equipment/software
manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing
organizations [15]. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet
technical specifications and implementation agreements to
promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier
Ethernet worldwide. The MEF accelerates the worldwide
adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services.
The five Carrier Ethernet attributes distinguish Carrier
Ethernet from LAN based Ethernet for ubiquitous,
standardized, carrier-class services and networks [15]:
 Standardized services
 Service management
 Scalability
 Reliability
 Quality of Service
To create a market in Ethernet services, it is necessary
to clarify and standardize the services to be provided.
MEF has played a key role in defining:
 E-Line: a service connecting two customer
Ethernet ports over a WAN.
 E-LAN: a multipoint service connecting a set of
customer endpoints, giving the appearance to the
customer of a bridged Ethernet network
connecting the sites.
 E-Tree: a multipoint service connecting one or
more roots and a set of leaves, but preventing
inter-leaf communication.
All these services provide standard definitions of such
characteristics as bandwidth, resilience and service
multiplexing, allowing customers to compare service
offerings and facilitating service level agreements (SLAs).
The Metro Ethernet Forum does not specify how Ethernet
services are to be provided in a carrier network.
The key roles in developing Carrier Ethernet
technologies and standards have been played also by the
Institute of IEEE 802.1 and 802.3 standards committees.
For example, IEEE 802.1 has addressed the scalability and
management issues in the standards for Provider Bridges
(802.1ad) and Provider Backbone Bridges (802.1ah).
IEEE 802.3ah-2004 (Ethernet in the first mile (EFM))
refers to using of the Ethernet protocol between a
telecommunications company and a customer's premise.
The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the
Ethernet Alliance have also been working cooperatively
with their members to enable future enhancements to
Ethernet for the WAN while looking to the future speed of
Ethernet technologies and services.
Some examples of vendor’s Carrier Ethernet solutions,
architectures and product information could be found on
[16] [17][18].
VII. CONLUSION
Today Ethernet is unifying technology implemented in
various environments, from enterprise networks, data
centers to carrier networks.
Ethernet technologies continue to evolve. The latest
revision of base standard IEEE 802.3-2012 was approved
in September 2012 and it incorporated the IEEE 802.3ba
(40 Gbit/s and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet), IEEE 802.3at (Power
over Ethernet Plus) IEEE 802.3az (Energy Efficient
Ethernet) and other amendments and improvements.
Carrier Ethernet uses many of the Ethernet LAN
technologies but required further augmentation in order to
function as a service delivery technology for MANs and
WANs.
REFERENCES
[1] IEEE Std 802.3™-2008, approved 26 September 2008.
[2] IEEE Std 802.3ba™-2010 (Amendment to IEEE Std 802.3™-
2008) approved 17 June 2010.
[3] Ethernet Alliance, “40/100GbE Technology Overview”, October
2010
[4] www.brocade.com
[5] www.cisco.com
[6] www.extremenetworks.com/
[7] www.huawei.com/en/
[8] www.juniper.net
[9] Morty Eisen: “Introduction to PoE and the IEEE802.3af and
802.3at Standards”, presentation slideware, 2010
[10] Ethernet Alliance, “Power Over Ethernet Plus”, v2.0, 2008
[11] Cisco: "Cisco Universal Power Over Ethernet", white paper, 2012
[12] IEEE 802.3 Working Group: "Energy Efficient Ethernet CFI",
presentation slideware, 2006
[13] Intel/Cisco: "IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient Ethernet", white
paper, 2011
[14] IEEE Std 802.3az™-2010 (Amendment to IEEE Std 802.3™-
2008) approved 30 September 2010.
[15] www.metroethernetforum.org
[16] www.brocade.com/solutions-technology/service-provider/carrier-
ethernet/index.page
[17] www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns577/networking_solutions_solutio
n_category.html
[18] www.juniper.net/us/en/solutions/service-provider/network-
infrastructure/carrier-ethernet/