WorldCom launches Ethernet portfolio

WorldCom late last year introduced a fourth Ethernet service, Internet Dedicated Gigabit Ethernet Port Only. This service provides high-speed Internet access, but only from a WorldCom collocation facility.

WorldCom doesn't expect its Ethernet services to cannibalize its frame relay, private line or ATM offerings, says Dennis Richardson, director of Ethernet and security services for WorldCom. Instead, the Ethernet services are designed to enable new types of applications.

Beth Gage, an analyst with TeleChoice and a Network World columnist, says firms are unlikely to use Ethernet to replace existing technology.

"They'd use it as a cheap connection to the Internet, or as an addition to their existing WAN for new applications," she says.

Interest in Ethernet as a MAN and WAN technology is still in the early stages, Gage says.

"Last year was a market-education year for many carriers as well as enterprise users," she says. "We'll see some more activity across the service provider space this year, but for some of them it won't be a priority."

Gian Zoppo, CIO for marketing firm Porter Novelli's U.S. region, isn't considering deploying Ethernet in the MAN or WAN at this point but can see cases where it might be useful.

"It could work with storage technology," he says. "It would be better to have a LAN-type technology there [such as Ethernet] than something that was designed for the WAN."

Another application Zoppo could see for Ethernet is as a possible replacement for costly, high-speed WAN links.

Zoppo says pricing will play a major factor in determining whether businesses will move to Ethernet, especially in the current economic climate.

WorldCom's Dedicated Internet and Ethernet Metro services initially will be available in five markets: New York City, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco/San Jose and northern Virginia/Washington, D.C.

The Private Line Ethernet offerings will be offered over WorldCom's SONET infrastructure and will be available nationwide.

To access WorldCom's Ethernet services, businesses need to be in a building that has direct fiber access to WorldCom's network. WorldCom has about 6,000 such on-net locations. The provider will build fiber routes to other buildings only if it would be profitable, Richardson says.

Many WorldCom customers will be able to access the Ethernet services by adding an Ethernet card to their existing routers. For customers that don't have premises equipment who can support a Layer 2 Ethernet connection, WorldCom will offer a 1M bit/sec to 50M bit/sec Lucent router, or a 1M bit/sec to 100M bit/sec Cisco router.

Although WorldCom has taken a financial battering in recent months, TeleChoice's Gage says that shouldn't deter businesses from signing up for its services.

"There's really no safe bet in telecom anymore, whether you're looking at a start-up or an incumbent," she says.

Porter Novelli's Zoppo says that even if WorldCom got into serious financial trouble, the provider's network likely wouldn't disappear.

"From the business side, you look at what's going on in the telecom sector and there's some concern about all the companies out there," he says. "What you look for is the companies that have good market share, because that's something that can always help them pull through."