Next phase of India's telecom revolution

Bangalore hosts "MEF World Tour: Ethernet Business Services"

The next phase of India's remarkable telecommunications revolution was showcased at MEF Enterprise Workshop at the Le Meridien Hotel, on Friday. Delegates got a peek at the latest advances in Carrier Ethernet services, provided with statistics on the phenomenal global growth in Carrier Ethernet services for business, and presented with real life case studies of the benefits already being delivered across the world. The event, which included participation by two of India's major service providers, Reliance Communications and Tata Communications, was the latest in the MEF's "World Tour" launched in the USA and Europe last year.
Carrier Ethernet is a key enabler for extending India's remarkable economic success, said Kevin Vachon, COO of the MEFAs a vast territory with highly diverse demographics, India presents major challenges to service providers, who need technologies flexible enough for the wide ranging connectivity needs and at the same time cost-effective enough to operate within their tight operating budgets. Ethernet fits the bill perfectly - being widely hailed for offering the widest choice of sophisticated connectivity solutions, combined with considerable cost saving compared to legacy infrastructure options. But there is a still a need to educate the wider business audience on the benefits of Carrier Ethernet. Bangalore, as the IT and outsourcing hub of India, is a highly appropriate place to begin this process in the southern India region."
The MEF's newly approved "MEF 22 - Carrier Ethernet for Mobile Backhaul Implementation Agreement (IA)" explains how to apply existing MEF specifications and industry standards to meet the increasing demands on RAN backhaul driven by the growth in mobile data and other high bandwidth applications. India's exploding mobile phone business is caught between increasing mobile bandwidth demands and low profit margins. The new IA offers a truly practical migration path to 3G and 4G services while preserving legacy services revenue, as well as enabling fixed network operators to provide wholesale services to mobile operators and increase use of existing plant. Carrier Ethernet is the natural choice, because its scalability allows decoupling of traffic volume from capital and operating expenses, so operators will be able to handle massive growth in video and data traffic at far less cost.
"Ethernet is the only solution for next generation mobile backhaul networks" claims industry analyst Michael Howard of Infonetics Research. "Our latest research suggests that worldwide Ethernet (copper and fiber) backhaul could grow to nearly 500,000 new connections by 2011, representing 179% CAGR from 2007." Delegates also heard how global growth figures for Carrier Ethernet were proving exceptionally resilient in the face of widespread economic downturn, as businesses continued to take the opportunity to migrate to this simpler, more scalable and cost-effective technology that also offers greater flexibility and new business opportunities to further survival and growth during times of change.
"Enterprise customers have adopted and are increasingly leveraging our certified Ethernet services to simplify their network infrastructure and achieve the flexible and scalable environment they need to support their business objectives. Ethernet based services have enabled customers to lower their total cost of connectivity and yet have a  scalable and reliable solution" said Mr Deepak Verma of Reliance Communications. He further added, "Our experience strengthens our belief and commitment towards Ethernet being the key technology for the evergrowing telecom networks, now and in future".
"As the first MEF certified Ethernet provider in India, we are pleased to collaborate with the MEF and take India's Ethernet revolution to the next step here in Bangalore, throughout India and around the globe", commented John Hoffman from Tata Communications. "India's economy has grown significantly over last two decades and India's telecom sector has played a major role in India's growth.  Today India's Telecom providers are international players and alignment with the internationally recognized MEF is a natural fit.  This event has proved a superb opportunity to address and educate senior members of India's most dynamic business sectors about Ethernet and to learn more about their needs and aspirations for further expansion and business development."

About The MEF:
The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 150 organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations. The MEF's mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of Carrier-class Ethernet networks and services. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.