How Ethernet First Mile can condense leased line costs

Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM), also known as IEEE 802.3ah, is defined as a collection of protocols specified in IEEE 802.3, defining the Ethernet in the access networks. The first mile, is the link between the end user and the public network. On a typical LAN setting DSL and cable modems operate at a modest 5-10% of the LAN setup’s total capacity which causes application bottlenecks. Bottlenecks happen even with E1 lines, at speeds of 1.5 Mbps. Though E1 lines are faster they are expensive.

Ethernet in the first mile (EFM) can overcome this, using existing physical infrastructure whether it is ordinary telephone lines or dark fibre links. This technique is claimed to be the new highly resilient copper based Ethernet service, with the ability to transfer high bandwidth data at up to 10 Mbps speeds into users’ premises without the need for any end-to-end fibre leased lines.

An important aspect of the EFM is that it does not offer any improvement over nor replace existing equipment but it is just a set of additional stipulation that will enable users to run Ethernet protocol over previously unsupported media, such as single pairs of telephone wiring and single strands of single-mode fibre (SMF). It is more suited for subscriber access networks networks that connect subscribers to their respective service providers.

The access network in many areas is made up of copper cable based point to point connections and EFM can easily blend with the copper infrastructure because EFM mixes new technology with ‘old world’ copper in the first mile. As a network access technology, Ethernet offers a long list of quantitative and qualitative advantages over legacy first mile technologies.