Fergie's Tech Blog

'Anti-MPLS': BT Likes Nortel's New Ethernet Flavor

Ray Le Maistre writes on Light Reading:

BT Group plc has voiced strong support for a controversial new twist on Ethernet technology developed by Nortel Networks Ltd. called Provider Backbone Transport (PBT). PBT is a management platform that strips out some of the management complexity of Ethernet for the delivery of point-to-point Ethernet services.

BT's backing for Nortel's technology comes just as the carrier awaits responses from the vendor community to its major Ethernet equipment Invitation to Tender (ITT), a critical stage in BT's decision-making process about which Ethernet technology it will use in its £10 billion (US$19 billion) next-generation network, the 21CN.

Nortel's approach is to simplify Ethernet by turning off features, such as the Spanning Tree protocol and MAC address flooding, and enabling network operators to manage their Ethernet service delivery by using a set of standards-based management tools.

posted by Fergie @ 5/12/2006 09:11:00 AM