View all newsletters
Receive our newsletter - data, insights and analysis delivered to you
  1. Technology
  2. Networks
January 12, 2009

AboveNet: gearing up for any-to-any metro ethernet services

AboveNet, a provider of high-bandwidth connectivity for the financial sector, is set to launch any-to-any ethernet services in the metro areas in which it operates. Ethernet is an increasingly pervasive transport for business communications, and delivering any-to-any connectivity should help strengthen its appeal and allow AboveNet to upsell the service to its existing customers.

By CBR Staff Writer

Adding any-to-any capability for its metro ethernet services is an eminently logical move for AboveNet, because as trading venues proliferate, the need for low-latency links to algorithm servers at multiple sites around a city tends to increase. In London, for example, the London Stock Exchange is now competing for trade with Chi-X and Turquoise, with more to follow.

AboveNet currently provides three levels of metro services: dark fiber; WDM (optical wavelengths); and point-to-point ethernet, with speeds ranging from 100Mbps to 10Gbps. It also offers WAN services on a longhaul fiber network, connecting all of its US locations.

Its financial services customers include the trading floors of major banks, as well as the data centers of these institutions, which use its network for synchronous and asynchronous replication. AboveNet also services some of the best known names in internet search and social networking sites, but it is clear that the financial sector, with its bandwidth-hungry replication applications and, in the high-frequency trading arena, its low-latency requirements, is a prime target market for the company.

Interestingly, its competition varies somewhat by product line: AT&T and Verizon are the company’s key rivals in private metro ethernet, WAN services and WDM, whereas in dark fiber services, its main competitors are Level 3, XO, or utility companies. This raises the question of whether the other players in metro ethernet are also offering, or plan to offer, any-to-any connectivity. It is certainly likely, since ethernet is very much the coming thing in terms of transport, as it represents a cost saving by being able to invest in switches instead of routers.

The ability to go beyond point-to-point connections with ethernet should provide a further competitive edge for AboveNet, even though its competitors can be expected to offer the same capability at some point. Nonetheless, AboveNet should be able to leverage its more focused approach to selling high-bandwidth connectivity, and there will be numerous opportunities to upsell its metro ethernet services to its existing customers.

It will also be interesting to see which vendor AboveNet selects to enable the any-to-any ethernet capability. It says it has looked at technology from Cisco, Nortel, Juniper and Infinera, and expects to make a decision shortly.

 

Content from our partners
How businesses can safeguard themselves on the cyber frontline
How hackers’ tactics are evolving in an increasingly complex landscape
Green for go: Transforming trade in the UK

Websites in our network
Select and enter your corporate email address Tech Monitor's research, insight and analysis examines the frontiers of digital transformation to help tech leaders navigate the future. Our Changelog newsletter delivers our best work to your inbox every week.
  • CIO
  • CTO
  • CISO
  • CSO
  • CFO
  • CDO
  • CEO
  • Architect Founder
  • MD
  • Director
  • Manager
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.
THANK YOU