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14 November 2003 Pau, France Lightwave -- The French city of Pau will deploy a new public optical Ethernet infrastructure that will allow -- for the first time in France -- end users to subscribe to voice, data, and video services via a single open transport network. The multi-service network will deliver Pau's residents 100-Mbit/sec access to triple-play services including Internet access, VoIP, more than 100 TV channels, and video on demand for 30 euros a month.
The new infrastructure will be one of the largest residential Ethernet deployments in the world, initially serving 21,000 homes with plans to expand to over 70,000 -- or 160,000 residents -- within three years.
The city will offer capacity on the network to service providers. "The wired optical end-to-end network belongs to the local authority, the same way the roads do," said André Labarrère, mayor of Pau, senator, and a former minister within the government of President Mitterand. "We rent this vital resource to a neutral company that lights and manages the infrastructure. In turn, they open the network to service providers that offer our residents and businesses advanced services such as Internet access, voice over IP, and video on demand. To accelerate this process, we created in Pau the first French 'triple play' service provider -- IPVSet."
Based on the concept of "open access," the new infrastructure is able to connect any service provider to its subscribers in the city. Leveraging optical Ethernet technology, the network will enable carriers to provide customers with guaranteed service level agreements (SLAs) and sub-50-msec resiliency along with the latest triple-play broadband services. In addition, the network's optical Ethernet technology supports integration with circuit switched networks while it delivers Ethernet Circuit Emulation Services (CES) for support of TDM traffic and point-and-click OAM&P.
According to Jean Pierre Jambes, in charge of development for the City of Pau, "Carrier-class optical Ethernet technology is the perfect match for the infrastructure build-out needs of this important endeavor due to its high scalability, stringent QoS in a variety of applications, and its low cost."
In making the announcement, the City of Pau cited the standards work being done by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) as a key driver for its decision to deploy optical Ethernet technology. It cited the recent ratification of the Model for Ethernet Services, as well as progress the MEF is making on specifications for sub-50-msec protection, CES, and OAM&P.
"This deployment further validates that Optical Ethernet is technically and economically superior to legacy transport technologies," said Nan Chen, president of the MEF. "Citing the MEF technical work as a key driver for this deployment is further testimony of the importance of the MEF standards."
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