TWC Sees Competitive Edge in CE 2.0

Time Warner Cable becomes North America's most notable Carrier Ethernet 2.0 service provider, certifying for all six business service classes.

Dan O'Shea, Analyst, Heavyreading.com

February 7, 2014

2 Min Read
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It looks as if we picked the right time to raise the topic of Carrier Ethernet 2.0 certification.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) Business Class earlier this week became the first Ethernet service provider in North America to achieve certification for all six of the MEF 's Carrier Ethernet 2.0 business service classes, a development that further shows how cable TV network operators -- not telcos -- are the ones pushing the Ethernet envelope in the competitive business market.

The distinction, along with the fact that TWC has 24 Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Certified Professionals on its team, gives a cable operator that is under pressure on other market fronts, such as its traditional video sector, a competitive edge in the Ethernet services market. (See TWC: How the Mighty Have Fallen .)

Several other North American providers, including AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), tw telecom inc. (Nasdaq: TWTC), Lumos Networks, Fibertech Networks LLC , and others, have achieved CE 2.0 certification on at least one service, but there are only two other Ethernet service providers in the world that have achieved certification for all six retail business service classes -- Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. (Telkom) , according to Daniel Bar-Lev, director of certification and strategic programs for the MEF.

If some in the industry question the value of CE 2.0 in today's market, when the need to address multiple classes of service may not yet be so keenly felt, TWC is not among them. In an email to Light Reading, Satya Parimi, group vice president of product management at TWC, says:

  • CE 2.0 is absolutely a competitive differentiation. Mid-market and enterprise customers with complex networking needs are looking for standards-compliant services, and the CE 2.0 certification is very important to meet their expectations. We have seen a material impact on our Ethernet sales performance when we announced our MEF 1.0 certification, and we expect the same with CE 2.0. We expect to see MEF CE 2.0 certification come up more prominently in RFP requests and in requests from our carrier partners for wholesale services.

The TWC news follows recent CE 2.0-related vendor announcements from ADVA and Calix. All this activity suggests we picked the right time to ask if 2014 will be the year of CE 2.0. (See ADVA Launches CE 2.0 Professional Services, Calix Pushing CE 2.0 Solutions, and Is 2014 the Year of Carrier Ethernet 2.0?)

Since then, the Metro Ethernet Forum insisted that the CE 2.0 certification pipeline has been filling up, suggesting more CE 2.0 carrier announcements could be imminent. In any case, TWC has officially thrown the gauntlet down for the rest of North America. (See MEF: CE 2.0 Certification Pipeline Filling Up.)

— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading

About the Author

Dan O'Shea

Analyst, Heavyreading.com

You want Dans? We got 'em! This one, "Fancy" Dan O'Shea, has been covering the telecom industry for 20 years, writing about virtually every technology segment and winning several ASBPE awards in the process. He previously served as editor-in-chief of Telephony magazine, and was the founding editor of FierceTelecom. Grrrr! Most recently, this sleep-deprived father of two young children has been a Chicago-based freelance writer, and continues to pontificate on non-telecom topics such as fantasy sports, craft beer, baseball and other subjects that pay very little but go down well at parties. In his spare time he claims to be reading Ulysses (yeah, right), owns fantasy sports teams that almost never win, and indulges in some fieldwork with those craft beers. So basically, it's time to boost those bar budgets, folks!

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