Metro Ethernet

A Data View of the Metro

A data view of the metro puts in perspective the different metro services and how they are offered by the different providers.

Figure 1-6 shows a view of the metro with the emphasis on the data access, data aggregation, and service delivery. As you can see, the metro is divided into three segments:

• Metro access— This segment constitutes the last-mile portion, which is the part of the network that touches the end customer. For business applications, for example, access equipment resides in a closet in the basement of the enterprise or MTU.

• Metro edge— This segment constitutes the first level of metro aggregation. The connections leaving the buildings are aggregated at this CO location into bigger pipes that in turn get ...