RAD’s Award-Winning Service Assured Access Solutions Earn MEF’s New Carrier Ethernet 2.0 Certification

RAD Data Communications has been included in the first group of manufacturers of Carrier Ethernet Demarcation devices to have received CE 2.0 certification. The announcement was made at the MEF’s Americas Carrier Ethernet Summit in San Diego, California.

The RAD products to have undergone testing in independent labs to receive their CE 2.0 certification are the ETX-5300A Ethernet Service Aggregation Platform, ETX-205A Advanced Carrier Ethernet/Mobile Demarcation Device and ETX-203AX Carrier Ethernet Demarcation Device. These are components of RAD’s Service Assured Access solution, enabling service providers and operators to provision end to end services reliably and consistently without degradation in performance, achieve lower total cost of ownership (TCO), and improve their competitive edge. All three products were previously honored by the industry by winning various Carrier Ethernet Awards at Carrier Ethernet World Congress events.

“CE 2.0 certification is further evidence of RAD’s industry leading position as a vendor of Service Assured Access solutions for retail, wholesale and mobile service providers,” said Amir Karo, RAD’s Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. “RAD is proud to play a central role in the advancement of standardized Carrier Ethernet technology, which will benefit end-users by providing better SLA tools and improved QoE and, in turn, increase operator revenue and profitability by reducing TCO.”

Extends the Original Purpose of Carrier Ethernet
Next Generation CE 2.0 extends the original purpose of Carrier Ethernet with vital additional features, including multiple classes of service (Multi-CoS), greater manageability, and easier inter-connect for eight standard service types, enabling new levels of efficiency and making it easier for a large number of access providers to join the Carrier Ethernet community.

“CE 2.0 is a difficult accreditation to achieve,” noted Bob Mandeville, President and founder of test lab Iometrix, which is responsible for the MEF’s testing process. “To be recognized as CE 2.0 certified, each company must pass a test suite that totals 634 stringent tests,” he explained. “The demand for certified products and services is a driving force, and we expect a significant increase in service provider certifications not only from established markets, but also from developing economies in 2013.”

“Forty years after its inception, Ethernet continues to innovate,” stated Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of the Ethernet, in summing up the gala certificate award ceremony. “CE 2.0 gives service providers and vendors the ability to drive global interconnection and deliver a whole host of services to enterprises rapidly and with multiple classes of service and robust service level agreements,” he concluded. “These twenty companies are the first to recognize this enormous potential, and it gives them a distinct competitive advantage, as Carrier Ethernet continues to dominate and surpass all other technologies and services on the market.”

About the MEF
The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 200 organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations. The MEF’s mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of carrier-class Ethernet networks and services. The MEF develops Carrier Ethernet technical specifications and implementation agreements to promote interoperability and deployment of Carrier Ethernet worldwide.