Copyright (c) 2010 Ian Roberts

Every telecommunications carrier, fixed or mobile, says they are moving to an all IP network infrastructure.

Most Enterprise & larger SME businesses now have a stated policy of moving over to IP where they haven't already and when it becomes affordable.

Well, Ethernet technology has been building out from the core of the carrier networks for some time and quietly, but increasingly rapidly has been reaching the network edge in an ever more affordable way - which for today's hard pressed businesses is great news.

Incredibly, Ethernet First Mile (EFM ) is now available to over 80% of UK businesses, at remarkably affordable prices.

This puts EFM in price reach of businesses which have never before considered it, and is a catalyst for larger businesses to rip out their expensive leased lines with EFM replacements.

High Capacity Business Ethernet 'First Mile' is used for Business Internet access and Virtual private networks (VPN's) - exactly the space which Leased Lines have historically occupied.

Ethernet First Mile solutions are available from 10-100Mb in 10Mb increments and up to 1Gig in 100Mb increments using fibre from the exchange to the customer premise, with lower capacity EFM circuits in the 2-10Mb range over copper.

Ethernet First Mile technology will become increasingly ubiquitous with network coverage expected to rise to c90% by the end of 2011. EFM services are almost certainly available in every major conurbation today for your business Internet and VPN requirements.

This nationwide availability will speed up even further the pace at which businesses replace their Leased Lines for Virtual Private Networks & business Internet access requirements with Ethernet First Mile Solutions. This is due to lower costs of rental and operation as EFM circuits provide end to end IP connectivity.

EFM circuits provide businesses with guaranteed symmetrical Internet or VPN access.

They also come with high availability Service Level Agreements of up to 99.9% availability and high performance guarantees on issues such as latency, jitter and packet loss.

These network performance standards allow a range of network sensitive value added IP and Cloud services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) and hosted PBX services to be delivered reliably.

The fact that EFM coverage is now available nationally means larger, multi-site business can take their UK wired network EFM infrastructure from a single supplier, no matter how geographically they are spread.

Wireless Ethernet services (both fixed and mobile) are also available but much less widely so.

None the less where they are, and where they are engineered independently of BT Openreach infrastructure they are a valuable and cost effective primary and resilient connectivity option.

Additionally wireless Ethernet provides businesses with genuinely diversely routed network paths - an increasingly rare phenomenon in the UK's ever more consolidated carrier market.

If your business has leased lines or looking at deploying them then it's time to look again, and seriously look at deploying Ethernet First Mile technology.