Retail colocation and interconnection service provider Equinix has launched the world's first global-scale carrier Ethernet exchange service in the first five US and European markets. The Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange platform, whose development was first announced in October of last year, enables carriers to provide Ethernet services outside of the geographical boundaries of their network service areas.
"While the Ethernet market has been growing at a breakneck pace, the full potential has yet to be realized because carriers have been limited to the geographic areas where their networks are deployed,"Equinix CMO Jarrett Appleby said in a statement. "Our offering immediately removes that fundamental barrier, enabling carriers to deliver consistent, scalable Ethernet services across multiple borders around the world simultaneously."
The first launch phase includes Equinix data centers serving Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and London markets. The provider expects to expand the service to 14 more metro regions during 2011.
Some of the world's largest telecom firms participated in development of the new service, including AboveNet, Hibernia Atlantic, RCN Metro, Level 3 and Virgin Media, among others. During the development of the program, Equinix conducted more than 200 tests across seven regions served by the 24 participating telecoms to demonstrate long-term commercial viability of the new offering.
The exchange is fully compliant with technical standards developed by the Metro Ethernet Forum, an international carrier Ethernet industry group. To ensure service transparency, Equinix provides a technical specification for interconnection to enable carriers to translate between different Ethernet offerings.
Equinix expects size of the Ethernet services market to expand to $40 billion by 2014.