Cost effective network expansion with Viatel Ethernet

Viatel Ethernet Allows Carriers To Extend Networks Quickly And Cost Effectively

UK, 11th April - Viatel has announced the launch of Viatel Ethernet, a cost effective and flexible wide area network service. Carriers and ISPs can benefit from the service by either re-selling Viatel's end-to-end service to their customers, or extending their network reach using Viatel's resilient, high performance Ethernet platform to run their own services.

Whereas previously carriers would have had to make large network investments to meet potential customer demand, they can now expand their networks nationally and internationally according to current customer needs - enabling them to be service and geography-driven without having to change their core infrastructure. ISPs can also earn additional revenue by adding Viatel's Ethernet based business network services to their existing service portfolio.

Viatel Ethernet is available UK-wide and internationally, with points of presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany and the US, offering one of the broadest geographic reaches available. Wholesale customers can also benefit from a wide range of service offerings based on next generation technologies, with flexible network configurations including point-to point, point-to-multipoint and any-to-any services, as well as flexible bandwidth, with committed rates from 1Mbps to 1Gbps.

Through Viatel Ethernet, wholesale customers not only have access to flexible and cost effective high capacity bandwidth, they can also reduce the cost of their own network equipment compared to that traditionally required with legacy WAN technologies.

"Today's carriers are looking for ways to meet increasing customer demands for bandwidth without having to extend their own network infrastructure. With Viatel's Ethernet service, national carriers can now extend their national footprint and satisfy the requirements of international customers by giving them bandwidth as and when they need it," commented Roberto Bonanzinga, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, Viatel.

Nan Chen, President, Metro Ethernet Forum commented, "The MEF has ratified 11 MEF standards - the MEF Carrier Ethernet Technical Specifications - and significantly improved networks and services interoperability across a broad geographic base. For service providers, the central issue that needs to be addressed is a lack of availability of Ethernet services. The latest applications require equivalent end user experiences at all locations with high bandwidth, which traditional networks and services cannot support. It is great to see Viatel offering right now a UK-wide and International Ethernet service which will help accelerate the adoption of Carrier Ethernet worldwide."

Viatel uses a wide range of technologies to deliver their next generation network, including Ethernet over SDH (EOS) and Ethernet over RPR, which Viatel has delivered by partnering with Huawei. Ethernet over RPR is a resilient network technology that makes very efficient use of bandwidth, providing a cost effective migration path from expensive legacy networks such as ATM and Frame Relay.

"Huawei are happy to be partnering with Viatel in order to provide cost-effective Ethernet services to customers across Europe. The network will utilise SDH and RPR technologies, SDH to provide robust, dedicated high availability whilst the benefits for Viatel of RPR will become apparent as the network scales in terms of number of users as well as with increase in bandwidth per user," comments William Xu, EVP Huawei Technologies.

Viatel has also partnered with Juniper for its innovative any-to-any E-LAN service that uses VPLS technology, allowing customers to locate IT resources wherever they need to without being restricted by the WAN.

By combining the cost effective, high bandwidth capabilities of Huawei with the sophisticated, multi-service capabilities of Juniper, Viatel has quickly been able to develop and deliver a broad spectrum of cost-effective, high performance services.

Carriers and ISPs will be provided with Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that cover service availability and provides Quality of Service guarantees. The Ethernet service is managed from Viatel's International Network Operations Centre (INOC) where the service is monitored and supported 24x7x365.

About Viatel

Viatel is a pan-European business communications company operating across 6 European markets, including the UK, France and Germany. It has more than 10,000 business customers, providing them a range of business communication services that help companies of all sizes to access the internet, connect their people and places, manage their web applications and increase the security of their data. Headed by Lucy Woods, formerly CEO of WorldCom EMEA and BT Northern Ireland, the company employs 200 people throughout Western Europe.

For further information on Viatel, please visit:

www.viatel.com

For further information please call:

Ana Williams on +44 (0)207 357 8612

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