LONDON -- RAD's ETX-204A is part of this year's Carrier Ethernet Global Interconnect Service Provider Test, organized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) and showcased at Light Reading's Ethernet Europe 2011 in London.

The test program was designed to allow network operators to validate end-to-end Carrier Ethernet services across multiple carriers using External Network-Network Interfaces (ENNI) as specified by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). Four operators participated in the test, establishing multi-segment EVPL and EVPLAN services across their different networks, in accordance with pre-defined service level agreements (SLAs). The operators were connected via Equinix exchanges in London and Frankfurt.

The ETX-204A Carrier Ethernet demarcation device was successfully tested as a wholesale provider Network Interface Device (NID), terminating the end-to-end EVPL and EVPLAN services and monitoring their availability and performance through Ethernet OAM and Connectivity Fault Management (CFM). In addition, it played an active role in generating user traffic using RFC-2544 test schemes, while Layer 2 loopback with MAC swap functionality assisted the interconnection switches in learning the MAC addresses of new service access points (SAPs).

"Recent developments such as the ENNI standard and the introduction of Ethernet Exchange services take Ethernet services beyond the Metro and into a national and global reach," noted Yacov Cazes, Director of Carrier Ethernet Access Solutions at RAD Data Communications. "This year's test shows that intelligent Carrier Ethernet demarcation is instrumental in addressing the provisioning and monitoring challenges that such services naturally face, and provides the required functionalities for testing and managing SLA-based services across these different networks."

European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC)

RAD Data Communications Ltd.