'MEN is designed to provide 40-80% savings...'

Please tell us why has the delay in Metro Ethernet (MEN)
deployment happened?

We cannot call it a delay because we just started talking about it. For any
operator, it will take close to eight months to understand the new technology
and business model before implementing it. It happened in the case of British
Telecom, one of our customers for MEN. In fact, Provider Backbone Transport (PBT),
a new technology pioneered by Nortel that allows service providers to deliver
the communications and entertainment services of the future to consumers and
companies across cities and countries, came into the market just a year ago,
while PBB (Provider Backbone Bridging) was available for commercial use three
years back. In addition to BT, we have won a couple of key contracts from
leading service providers in Asia, which will be announced shortly. Currently we
are in the process of completing a road show in countries like Australia, Japan,
Korea, India (Mumbai and Delhi), etc to create awareness of the benefits of this
revolutionary technology.

Can MEN bring cheers to Indian service providers? What is
your strategy?

Depending on the market, MEN is designed to provide 40-80% savings of
infrastructure cost and this itself is a major advantage for service providers
to use MEN. The number of customers we are adding in Asia will vouch for our
innovative services and strategy. Our MEN strategy is also based on an
increasing reliance on Ethernet as the standard protocol for both LAN and WAN
communications to break the bandwidth bottlenecks between high-speed fibre-optic
networks and Metro networks serving customers and businesses.

Are the innovation in your MEN initiatives taken seriously by
service providers?

We are committed to building on the market leadership in the growing MEN
market in Asia and our innovation has many takers. Nortel's innovation enables
service providers to confidently use Ethernet, once a technology used only for
PC connectivity in the LAN, as the means for delivering mission critical
high-bandwidth services like IPTV, mobile video and business services. We are
driving carrier-centric Ethernet innovation and have been a major driving force
behind the standardization of PBB and new comprehensive Ethernet OAM tools.

What are your main challenges in China and India?

The challenges in the two countries are different. In China, mainly the
government drives the market, while in India private sector companies and the
market itself are pushing the telecom revolution. Both China and India are
offering plenty of growth opportunities for us. In Asia, we are addressing
customers' needs with our innovative solutions and we are the aggressive
telecom players in the market. According to the recent IDC report, SPs in Asia
Pacific are rapidly implementing carrier-grade Ethernet solutions to support a
range of residential, enterprise, and wholesale applications.

Baburajan


baburajank@cybermedia.co.in