Fujitsu FLASHWAVE 4000 platforms comply with MEF 14
August 8, 2006 Richardson, TX -- Iometrix, an independent testing facility, has determined that two Fujitsu Network Communications' FLASHWAVE 4000 products can deliver Ethernet Private Line (EPL), Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), and Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) services that are compliant with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 14 technical specification.
The FLASHWAVE 4500 platform and FLASHWAVE 4100 system were tested by the Iometrix test laboratory in accordance with the Iometrix Test Plan for Traffic Management, as approved by the MEF Certification Committee, and have been certified to comply with the requirements established in the MEF 14 Abstract Test Suite for Traffic Management. These products also were previously certified to comply with the MEF 9 technical specification. With the addition of MEF 14 compliance, these platforms are able to support full compliance to critical Ethernet service requirements as defined by the MEF.
"Fujitsu has backed up the claim that we are market innovators by being one of the first vendors to prove that our products can deliver MEF 14 compliant Ethernet services," contends Bill Erickson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Fujitsu Network Communications. "MEF 14 provides specific guidelines for quality-of-service [QoS] parameters, which is another major step towards making Ethernet services carrier-class. By successfully demonstrating MEF 14 compliance with our FLASHWAVE 4000 portfolio," he says, "we give our customers the flexibility they need to create exciting new Ethernet service offerings that support real-time and bandwidth-intensive business applications."
MEF 14 provides specifications-based guidelines for the formulation of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and is a major step toward making Ethernet truly carrier-class. MEF 14 complements MEF 9 and covers "Service Performance" and "Bandwidth Profiles"--two sets of MEF service attributes. The first set encompasses three service performance attributes relating to Ethernet Virtual Circuits (EVC): Frame delay, Frame delay variation, and frame loss ratio. The second set follows the familiar example of Frame Relay and includes four bandwidth profile attributes: Committed Information Rate (CIR), Committed Burst Size (CBS), Excess Information Rate (EIR), and Excess Burst Size (EBS). Together, MEF 9 and MEF 14 cover the complete set of Carrier Ethernet service attributes defined in the core definitional technical document MEF 10.
"Now Carrier Ethernet is delivering its promises on quality of service in a standardized, independently verified manner," notes Mark Whalley, co-chair of the MEF Marketing Committee. "For a service provider end-customer, MEF 14 certification means confidence that the equipment in the network is capable of providing tightly specified SLA behavior in terms of assured bandwidth and application responsiveness. With the explosion in VoIP usage and the promise of IPTV and other bandwidth-hungry and delay-sensitive services, Carrier Ethernet must deliver quality of service to maintain its momentum as one of the fastest growing sectors in our industry," he adds.
Fujitsu Network Communications was one of the first 15 companies to be presented with certification at GLOBALCOMM 2006 in June.
"Quality of Service is a critical attribute to ensure that Carrier Ethernet services will deliver the strict performance and bandwidth guarantees our business customers demand," notes Michael Tighe, director of corporate strategy of Verizon and chair of the MEF board. "These 15 vendors are to be congratulated for being the first to commit to premium Carrier Ethernet services and the challenge of submitting their products to two months of exhaustive testing at the Iometrix labs."