GENEVA -- ITU has approved a set of global industry standards for Ethernet that will extend its flexibility and simplicity to carrier networks. The standards outline a way for Ethernet - a widely used local area network (LAN) - to link any number of endpoints in a wide area network (WAN), or simply as a service delivery mechanism.

The news marks Ethernet's progress from a LAN connectivity technology to a carrier class service delivery technology. The ability to offer Ethernet services means that carriers will be able to offer considerably improved flexibility to customers through a much simpler and lower cost interface. It will allow users to specify exactly how much bandwidth they want between the 10Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s range currently offered. Further, the standards provide reduced operation complexity and improved scalability for carriers.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)