The Metro Ethernet Forum awarded certifications to seven service providers complying with its global Carrier Ethernet Service definitions. The companies receiving certification in this first round were: AT&T, Bell South, Cable Vision Lightpath (the first cable operator to apply), Met-Net, ntl:Telewest Business (the first European service provider to apply), Qwest and Verizon.
Iometrix was the company responsible for the conformance testing.
The testing involves three key stages. In the initial negotiation stage the service provider needs to prove to Iometrix that they do have a commercial Carrier Ethernet service offering that is certifiable according to any or all of Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) or ELAN (multipoint networking) definitions from the MEF 9 specification. This leads to the second phase, lab testing, where the service provider is required to construct a facsimile of the production network supporting their Carrier Ethernet service and then Iometrix run some 244 test cases on that system to pave the way for the third, field testing phase.
This is the world’s first ever service provider certification program” says Bob Mandeville, “and the really significant fact is the commitment shown by the service providers themselves. The decision to apply for certification was taken at the highest level, and they typically dedicated 6 or 7 member teams embracing every other level – including strategic, operational, architectural and service expertise – to ensure their projects’ success. Such dedication marks the service providers’ commitment to Carrier Ethernet as the way forward for global networking.”http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org
