The company said the new name reflects the evolution of Neutral Tandem to a full-scale service provider that can solve network interconnection and interoperability issues on a global scale. Inteliquent provides voice, IP Transit, Ethernet and hosted service solutions to major carriers, service providers, and content management firms based in over 80 countries and six continents.

Neutral Tandem/Inteliquent has partnered with data center operators Equinix and Telx to expand the infrastructure for Ethernet exchanges to support the growth of Carrier Ethernet services.

“The rebranding comes at a time when our customers’ network needs are growing more complicated. To address this, we are providing intelligent solutions to solve these challenges -— whether in voice, IP transit, Ethernet or hosted services,” continues Surendra Saboo, President and Chief Operating Officer of Inteliquent. “At Inteliquent, we are building upon the breadth and depth of our highly interconnected network, and developing solutions to solve tomorrow’s interoperability issues.”

Over at Telecom Ramblings, Rob Powwll says the new brand and broadened vision could suggest future acquisitions. “It still seems likely to me that at some point this company will again find an inorganic way to expand further,” Rob writes. “From this re-branding it seems clear that we ought to look for such targets in the rapidly evolving cloud ecosphere. But thus far it is mainly from a wholesale perspective, as even their hosted services will be sold via the channel and not directly to the enterprise. For now though, a new name to reflect a wider focus.”

Inteliquent has also rolled out a new web site to reflect its new name and mission

Figure 1: Carrier Ethernet Exchange (Courtesy MEF)

Interconnections have always been a key focus for data centers located in areas with high concentrations of network service providers. Some of these data center providers are now investing in specialized exchanges to support Carrier Ethernet services.

The Metro Ethernet Forum’s formal definition of an Ethernet Exchange, a form of an External Network-Network Interface (ENNI), is “an interconnect point among service providers where Carrier Ethernet Services are exchanged.” From an end user’s point of view, you want your service provider to supply this service so you can have a direct Ethernet connection from end-to-end.

End Users See Benefits of Ethernet

Today, most enterprises are still encapsulating their native Ethernet data into TDM/SONET/SDH then de-encapsulating it at the other end. However, more and more, end users are seeing the benefits of Ethernet Services and perhaps eventually, the entire public network may be running native Ethernet.

There are currently just a few vendors of Carrier Ethernet Exchange services: CENX, Equinix, Neutral Tandem and Telx.

• CENX: Carrier Ethernet Neutral Exchange (CENX) was the first Carrier Ethernet Exchange. CENX has Carrier Ethernet Exchange services currently available in Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Miami, New Jersey, New York and Hong Kong. The system is resilient and supports high availability with Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet connections. MemberLink is a new service from CENX that allows customers to connect to any remote Ethernet Exchange through member companies.
• Equinix: Most widely known for its co-location and managed services business, Equinix was an early entrant as a Carrier Ethernet Exchange as well. It has a global footprint on four continents: North America, South America, Europe, Asia and is not only servicing carriers, but has started to open its exchange to cloud companies.
• Neutral Tandem: Its Carrier Ethernet Exchange was launched in early 2010. Since then, the company acquired Tinet and has made recent progress with its new EtherCloud offering. With this, Tinet can provide end-to-end international connectivity to any company. It allows global coverage using VPLS through Juniper equipment in the core and Cisco in the access.
• Telx: While Telx is best known as a leading colocation provider, it was also at the forefront of Ethernet exchanges. Telx is a carrier-neutral data center colocation provider and has several facilities around North America which enables it to supply seamless Ethernet connection not only between carriers, but between any of its enterprise colo customers as well. Its Ethernet Exchange services have a range of options depending on customer’s needs. It charges by the port and can connect customers at 100 Mbps, Gigabit or 10G data rates through its Cisco ASR 9000 equipment. Telx expects to incorporate 40G as needed – probably not until 2012/2013 timeframe, though. No equipment is oversubscribed and low latency options are available for premiums.

While it is rather difficult to quantify this market, Ethernet exchanges services are expected to have around a 20-percent CAGR over the next five years starting at 100’s of millions of dollars in 2011. Plenty of revenue to support the few entrants that have decided to focus on it so far.

Lisa Huff is a contributing editor for Data Center Knowledge. She is Chief Technology Analyst for DataCenterStocks.com and Principal Analyst at Discerning Analytics.

Level 3: This is not a Peering Dispute - Level 3 rebuts Comcast’s claim that this is a peering dispute: “It is regrettable that Comcast has sought to portray this simply as a commercial disagreement or a peering dispute. They miss the point and are attempting to distract from the fundamental issue. The fundamental issue is not whether Comcast sends more traffic to Level 3 or whether Level 3 sends more traffic to Comcast. The fundamental issue is whether Comcast, as the largest cable company in the country with absolute control over access to its cable TV and broadband access subscribers, has the right to unilaterally set a ‘price’ for that access that effectively discriminates against competitors of Comcast’s cable and Xfinity content.”

Comcast’s Letter to FCC on Level 3 – In a letter to the FCC, Comcast provides details recent activity with Level 3 traffic: “Level 3 approached Comcast approximately two weeks ago (shortly after reaching their Netflix agreement, we later learned, although they made no mention of it at the time) and demanded 27 to 30 new interconnection ports, which would allow them to send a much greater amount of traffic onto Comcast’s network. To that request, Level 3 added the following twist: it insisted that Comcast should provide it with all those new facilities — and support this vast new influx of traffic — for free.”

Forget Net Neutrality; Comcast Might Break the Web – Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOm: “The fight that erupted today between Level 3 and Comcast involves an esoteric agreement between two of the Internet’s big players colliding with a series of equally arcane policy arguments, but at its core this fight is about money. Yet what began as a commercial dispute may end up fundamentally changing how the web works and who pays for it.”.

Level 3 outbid Akamai on Netflix by reselling stolen bandwidth – George Ou at the Digital Society blog: “Level 3 won that (Netflix) bid because it intends to break its contractual obligations on peering with Comcast and essentially resell stolen bandwidth to Netflix. Now it makes perfect sense how Level 3 managed to outbid Akamai since no CDN provider operating legally could outbid hot goods.”

The Real Issue In Comcast’s Dispute With Level 3 Is About Power, Not Money – CDN expert Dan Rayburn from The Business of Video: “From my perspective, I’m glad to see Level 3 making this issue public and bringing it to everyone’s attention, as the topic needs to be debated. The discussion should not be about Netflix or the CDN business as that’s not what the crux of this is about. Net neutrality is really the heart of this debate.”

The Real Story Behind the Comcast-Level 3 Battle – Dan Gooding, writing at GigaOm: “No one here did anything wrong; these disputes aren’t uncommon. Well, no one did anything wrong until Level 3 whined to the press and regulators. When you’re on the losing side of a peering dispute, you’re always tempted to complain to regulators about how you’ve been treated unfairly. Then you remember a regulated peering arrangement is the only thing worse than what we have now.”

Dr. Peering on Internet Peering – An explanation of peering from the Dr. Peering web site by Bill Norton. “Definition: Internet Peering is the business relationship whereby companies reciprocally provide access to each others’ customers. This definition applies equally to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), and Large Scale Network Savvy Content Providers.”

The feud between the two major players in online content appears to have been precipitated by Level 3′s recent addition of online video service Netflix as a major new customer of its content delivery network (CDN) business. The Netflix win means that Level 3′s CDN will likely be delivering a larger volume of content onto the networks of huge consumer broadband providers like Comcast.

It also means that Level 3′s new customer is offering a competitive alternative to Comcast’s on-demand video offering. Level 3 has seized on this in its protest of Comcast’s new fees.

New Fees Sought for Peering
“On November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that, for the first time, it will demand a recurring fee from Level 3 to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast’s customers who request such content,” writes Thomas Stortz, Chief Legal Officer of Level 3, in the company’s statement. “By taking this action, Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content which competes with its own cable TV and Xfinity delivered content. This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access markets as the nation’s largest cable provider.”

Comcast says the issue is not the type of traffic moving between the two networks, but the volume of traffic. At the heart of the issue is peering, which allows two providers exchanging large volumes of traffic to save money by connecting directly, rather than routing traffic across their paid Internet connections. Peering is often free as long as the amount of traffic exchanged is not out of balance, providing substantial cost savings for bandwidth for high-traffic sites and networks.

Comcast says its traffic exchange with Level 3 is out of balance (presumably because of the Netflix deal) and no longer meets the conditions for no-cost “settlement-free” peering.

“Level 3′s position is simply duplicitous,” said Joe Waz, Comcast’s Senior Vice President for External Affairs, in a statement. “When another network provider tried to pass traffic onto Level 3 this way, Level 3 said this is not the way settlement-free peering works in the Internet world. When traffic is way out of balance, Level 3 said, it will insist on a commercially negotiated solution. Now, Level 3 proposes to send traffic to Comcast at a 5:1 ratio over what Comcast sends to Level 3, so Comcast is proposing the same type of commercial solution endorsed by Level 3.”

Is Netflix the Issue?
The obvious next question, assuming that Netflix is the issue: How has Comcast dealt with other CDNs delivering Netflix content? Two other CDNs, Akamai Technologies and Limelight Networks, have also delivered Netflix video. Did Comcast change terms with these partners based on their transmission of content that competes with Comcast’s own services? Comcast says no. “Comcast offered Level 3 the same terms it offers to Level 3′s CDN competitors for the same traffic,” said Waz.

Even this  is not an apples-to-oranges comparison. Akamai and Limelight run larger CDNs than Level 3, meaning that the Netflix business may have meant a more substantive change in CDN traffic levels for Level 3. But Level 3 is not just a CDN – it is also a major  backbone provider that operates its own network (a fact noted several times in Level 3′s statement).

So what now? Level 3  has agreed to pay the new Comcast fees “under protest” and Comcast says the two companies will meet later this week to discuss the issue. Level 3 is emphasizing that it is not seeking any “special deals.” In the meantime, Level 3′s stance has spun up a vigorous debate about Net Neutrality and the potential for online video traffic to disrupt the peering relationships that keep Internet traffic flowing smoothly.

Peering disputes usually end amid howls of pain from customers who’ve had their Web surfing disrupted by the networks disconnecting. That hasn’t happened in this case. Level 3 has objected to the new fees, but neither party has actually severed their peering. Comcast’s action could reflect an opportunistic move to rework its peering deal with Level 3 – in effect, a bet that Level 3 would pay the fees instead of disrupting the ability of  Netflix (and its other customers) to reach one of the largest Internet audiences.

Interxion partners with France-IX. Interxion announced that France-IX, the largest Internet exchange in France, is now operational in its Paris data centers. France-IX has made arrangements to migrate PANAP and SFINX Internet Exchange traffic to France-IX, making it France’s largest exchange, carrying in excess of 100 Gigabits per second of traffic.  “Unlike London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, Paris had no single, large-scale, neutral Internet Exchange until now – a situation which has meant that many carriers chose not to exchange traffic in Paris,” said Franck Simon, Managing Director, France-IX. “Although many IXPs were present in Paris, there wasn’t really a strong place for peering. France-IX addresses and resolves these issues, providing a technically advanced and highly professional neutral exchange enabling Paris to join the front rank of Europe’s Internet interconnection hubs.”  With over 70 percent of French Internet exchange traffic, France-IX will add to the Interxion portfolio of 18 leading public Internet Exchanges in Europe connecting at Interxion facilities.

TelecityGroup and AMS-IX expand partnership. TelecityGroup announced that AMS-IX has installed its first extension point at TelecityGroup’s Amstel Park data center.  With 60 percent growth in traffic through AMS-IX the infrastructure expansion was built to enable higher level of peering and connectivity options. “To ensure we can provide the most effective platform, we need to offer customers our peering options from a diverse range of premium colocation facilities,” said AMS-IX CEO Job Witteman. “TelecityGroup’s Amstel Business Park is one of the most advanced data centres in Europe, and through our long-term relationship with the company, we know the level of security and connectivity its facilities provide.”

CoreLink completes SAS 70 Type II audit. CoreLink Data Centers announced it has received a SAS70 Type II audit for its nationwide data centers.  “CoreLink Data Centers’ attention to detail, strict process culture and relentless focus on customer service enable us to offer maximum reliability, security, and stability for our customers,” said Michael Duckett, President of CoreLink Data Centers. Last month CoreLink relocated its headquarters to Mount Prospect, Illinois and brought their new Chicago data center online.

ViaWest announces new Vice President. ViaWest announced the selection of Paul Gerrard as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  “Paul is a great addition to our executive management team,” said Roy J. Dimoff, ViaWest CEO & Chairman. “He has a solid record of success and the indispensable industry experience we need to help us truly focus our efforts in a competitive marketplace.”  Prior to ViaWest Mr. Gerrard was the senior vice president of sales for SunGard’s western region.

Martin to Manage Latisys in Orange County: Latisys said Thursday that it has strengthened its data center operations team by adding Robert Martin to manage the firm’s growing data center operations in Orange County. In his role as Data Center Operations Manager at Latisys, Martin will manage day-to-day operations for the firm’s existing data center in Irvine, California (OC1), and will also manage operations for Latisys’ new 93,000 square foot, Tier 3 data center facility (OC2) which is currently under development. Martin brings to Latisys more than a decade of data center operations experience – most recently managing operations for Savvis’ Irvine, California facility, where he was responsible for managing large-scale mission critical IT infrastructure for some of Orange County’s leading enterprises and service providers.

In a deal targeting the growth of Ethernet services, interconnection service specialist Neutral Tandem (TNDM) has agreed to acquire Tinet SpA, an international carrier providing wholesale IP Transit and Ethernet services, for 74.5 million euros (approximately $94.9 million).

The deal will immediately expand Neutral Tandem’s IP-based network internationally, enabling global end-to-end delivery of wholesale voice, IP and Ethernet solutions. Neutral Tandem has specialized in providing carrier-neutral connections in the telecom market, working with wireless carriers, cable companies, CLECs and broadband service providers.

Deal ‘Redefines’ Neutral Tandem
“This acquisition redefines Neutral Tandem from a strictly voice interconnection company into a global IP-based network services company focused on delivering global connectivity for a variety of media, including voice, data and video,” said Rian Wren, President and CEO of Neutral Tandem.

“Furthermore, the integration of Tinet’s global IP backbone will help accelerate and expand Neutral Tandem’s and Tinet’s Ethernet services,” Wren said. “This combination will take our Ethernet eXchange service global and will position us for delivering cost-effective wholesale Ethernet interconnectivity solutions end-to-end.”

Neutral Tandem has teamed with Telx on an Ethernet exchange that will allow enterprise and cloud/SaaS providersto connect their Ethernet networks without setting up individual interconnection agreements or building out local fiber networks. 

Exchanges as Convergence Enabler
Ethernet exchanges are seen as an important enabler of the convergence between global communications networks as the growth data traffic begins to outpace voice traffic. Equinix and CENX have also launched Ethernet exchanges to pursue this market.

“Tinet is excited to continue to drive the growth of the global wholesale IP Transit and Ethernet markets under the Neutral Tandem umbrella,” said Paolo Susnik, CEO of Tinet. “We believe that the combination with Neutral Tandem will provide significant benefits to the global wholesale communications marketplace. The integration of our networks will provide customers greater access points to buy and sell Ethernet services and will add further value to our IP Transit proposition.”

Cabling image by Sugree via Flickr.

Carrier Ethernet is a standard created to extend data-centric Ethernet networks to connect with telecom networks initially designed to carry voice traffic. As such, it’s an important enabler of the convergence between global communications networks as the growth data traffic begins to outpace voice traffic.

But connecting carrier networks directly can be time-consuming and involves technical and business challenges. Carrier Ethernet exchanges – which effectively translate between different carrier Ethernet offerings – are seen as an important next phase, making it far easier for networks to connect across geographies.

Milestone in Key Growth Market
“This launch is an important milestone for Equinix and for the Ethernet services industry in general,” said Jarrett Appleby, CMO, Equinix. “While the Ethernet market has been growing at a breakneck pace, the full potential has yet to be realized because carriers have been limited to the geographic areas where their networks are deployed. Our offering immediately removes that fundamental barrier, enabling carriers to deliver consistent, scalable Ethernet services across multiple borders around the world simultaneously.”

Equinix has been developing its Carrier Ethernet Exchange since October 2009, and says it is fully compliant with the work of the Metro Ethernet Forum, the standards body for Carrier Ethernet. It will compete with the CENX, a Carrier Ethernet exchange launched last fall by MEF founder and president Nat Chen.  A third company, Neutral Tandem, also has an exhcange in development. 

The differentiator for Equinix is its customer ecosystem, which includes the leading carriers and networks that already use Equinix data centers for Internet peering.

Simplifying Technical Complexities
“As well as having the potential to simplify the technical complexities in delivering Ethernet services, the Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange also creates a massive marketplace of potential partners,” said Mark Heraghty, managing director, Virgin Media Business. “Not only will that enable us to better support our customers’ needs, but it also means that we have the flexibility and scalability needed to add or expand our overall service offerings.”

“The development program for the Equinix Ethernet Exchange was comprehensive, meticulous and highly successful,” said Appleby. “It speaks volumes that our collaborative development approach netted as many world-class participants prior to launch, underscoring the demand for this service and the tremendous value it will deliver to the global Ethernet community.”

The Equinix Carrier Ethernet Exchange development program included 24 of the largest telecom companies in the world, including AboveNet, BroadbandONE, Easynet Global Services, euNetworks, Exponential-e, Hibernia Atlantic, RCN Metro Optical Networks, Internet Solutions, KPN International, Level 3 Communications, PacketExchange, PCCW Global, Reliance Globalcom, SSE Telecoms, TeraGate AG, Tinet and Virgin Media Business.

Cisco space router operates in orbit. On Monday Cisco announced that their Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) technology has achieved a major milestone with the successful in-orbit test of the Cisco IOS software’s networking capabilities and the company’s on-board router. The technology was aboard an Intelsat IS-14 commercial GEO satellite and launched November 23, 2009. The Cisco IRIS technology is a program to build a radiation-tolerant IP router for satellite and related spacecraft. Cisco vice president for the Global Government Solutions Group Steven Boutelle said “this milestone is another step in our strategy to expand borderless networks into space and redefine how satellite communications are delivered. This technology can help transform satellite communications around the world by reducing latency and increasing the efficiency.” Managed by Cisco and Intelsat the IRIS program is a Department of Defense Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) and the payload will convert to commercial use following a three month JCTD in April 2010.

AboveNet connects all 20 Equinix U.S. data centers. Equinix (EQIX) and AboveNet (ABVT) announced that AboveNet has deployed operations to the Equinix New York-1 data center, marking the company’s deployment to all 20 of Equinix’s IBX centers in the U.S.  AboveNet offers managed services, Ethernet, metro networks and a global Tier 1 optical IP network.  Making use of the Equinix global services delivery platform, AboveNet will enhance peering capabilities with other Tier 1 networks.  Equinix chief marketing officer Jarrett Appleby said “our partnership with AboveNet offers a strong Tier 1 network and high bandwidth connectivity solution options for the community of IBX participants while offering AboveNet significant new revenue opportunities and a national infrastructure for Tier 1 peering and future carrier Ethernet needs.”  Equinix acquisition target Switch and Data announced that Lexent Metro Connect, a dark fiber network provider in New York, has become part of the Switch and Data GeoReach program.  Lexent Metro Connect has also completed construction of a low-latency dark fiber network route to Switch and Data’s North Bergen site located in New Jersey.  The GeoReach program is a select group of providers who have engineered their networks to meet the needs of the high-efficiency trading community.

Huawei to deploy DWDM platform for GlobeNet. Global telecommunications solution provider Huawei was selected to deploy a next generation DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical platform for network transport services company GlobeNet. The Huawei platform will connect GlobeNet’s cable landing station in southern New Jersey to its Point of Presence sites in New York city via two diverse paths. The diverse paths will allow GlobeNet to deliver services to their other sites in Brazil, Venezuela, Bermuda, Florida and others. The network solution provided by Huawei will support 10Gb per second, 40GB per second and future 100Gb per second wavelengths to competitively deliver advanced, high bandwidth services.

The site features Norton’s many peering white papers, including his widely-discussed analysis of the ”wave of disruption” from Internet video. There’s also the Ask Dr. Peering question and answer column, which this month examines Transit Provider Selection.    

Peering allows two providers exchanging large volumes of traffic to save money by connecting directly, rather than routing traffic across their paid Internet connections. Peering is often free as long as the amount of traffic exchanged is not out of balance, providing substantial cost savings for bandwidth for high-traffic sites and networks.