Charter Business aims at long-haul optical Ethernet

Charter Business, the business services division of Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) has unveiled a new long-haul optical Ethernet service to businesses and carriers.

Charter is the latest cable MSO to announce a new range of business services, following Comcast (see “Comcast deploys Juniper Networks carrier-class routing, switching for new Metro Ethernet service” and “Ciena, Cisco gear support Comcast data services roll out”). Charter Business differs from the Comcast offering in that it focuses on long-haul. The launch includes Layer 3 Virtual Private Network (VPN) services.

The new services will leverage Charter’s nationwide Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. Charter's national backbone currently transports more than 300 Gbps of traffic.

"Charter Business has provided customers carrier-class Ethernet services for a number of years, and we're pleased to offer Layer 3 VPN as another networking option," said Scott Fairchild, product management director. "Charter Business long-haul service is an exciting development for our customers. It enables medium-size to large companies with multiple sites to seamlessly integrate their networks into a single WAN, via either at Layer 2 or Layer 3."

Because of the company’s footprint, Fairchild also asserted Charter Business will be able to meet the needs of businesses in small communities that other carriers can’t reach.