Gigabit Ethernet for Metro Area Networks discusses the public network evolution that is now under way in the United States, where many enterprises and carriers alike are modifying their approach to metropolitan area network (MAN) design and management. The move to Ethernet technology to handle MAN transport is well under way and promises to continue growing for years to come.

This book is organized in a manner that leads the reader through this change in a logical, building-block manner. It s presumed that the reader has a basic understanding of the data networking fundamentals, the protocols that can be used in data transport, and the various means of transport available through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

The perspectives of enterprise and carrier networks will be presented. The intention is to compartmentalize these discussions whenever possible. But the truth of the matter is that the very nature of this paradigm shift mandates that both the enterprise network and the carrier network infrastructure undergo this expanded use of Ethernet simultaneously, at least to some degree. How else could an enterprise migrate to an Ethernet-only topology to connect multiple metro locations together if the carriers in a metro area don t also have a medium-haul Ethernet capability in their own networks? If that were not the case, the seamless transport of enterprise traffic across a metro area would have to be encapsulated into wide area network (WAN) protocols such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) or frame relay, which defeats...