Actually, it is not true that Layer 2 Ethernet is 'best effort'. It depends. There are Layer 1 Ethernet products that involve no Layer 2 switching or Layer 2 routing, just an efficient and transparent mapping of Ethernet into SDH/SONET. And some of those products can be upgrade in 50 meg increments from 100 to 1,000 megs. After you have outgrown your GigE, then you can migrate to a LAN PHY 10 GigE link using affordable LAN interfaces and keeping your network 'untainted' by SONET/SDH. Regards, Roderick S. Beck Director of European Sales Hibernia Atlantic 13-15, rue Sedaine, 75011 Paris http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com Wireless: 1-212-444-8829. French Wireless: 33-6-14-33-48-97. AOL Messenger: GlobalBandwidth rod.beck@hiberniaatlantic.com rodbeck@erols.com ``Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.'' Albert Einstein. -----Original Message----- From: Chris Kleban [mailto:Chris.Kleban@citrix.com] Sent: Tue 9/16/2008 12:33 AM To: nanog@nanog.org Subject: [SPAM-HEADER] - Today's Point-2Point WAN Options - Email has different SMTP TO: and MIME TO: fields in the email addresses Hello Nanog, I'm currently looking into what are the options for enabling inter-datacenter communication. Our current solution is to use ipsec/gre tunnels traversing over the Internet. The specific needs the new solution must meet are: - The ability to run end-to-end QOS. - Dedicated bandwidth - Support 1gbps transfer rates - Enable communication between 3 locations The options I have looked into so far are: - Layer 2 Ethernet (Virtual Private Line): This service seems to be offered by a lot of ISPs using various networking techniques. The price point is attractive however packets are forwarded only at best effort across the ISP's network which means the quality of the service will directly reflect the ISP's network performance. - Traditional Leased Line (dsX/ocX): This service seems to be more expensive then wavelength services however meets my needs. - WaveLength Services (oc3-10gig): This service seems to be cheaper then traditional leased lines when comparing similar bandwidth. However, availability is limited to on-net buildings. This solution meets my needs. - MPLS based VPN solutions: Seems to be a good point to multipoint technology with QOS offerings. However, the price seems to be around the same as wavelength services for the amount of bandwidth we require. If the number of data centers we were looking to connect was larger then this option would be more attractive. This solution meets my needs. Based on my needs and what my options are I am leaning towards point to point wavelength services connecting my 3 locations in a loop like fashion. Are there any other options I should consider? Are my descriptions of the today's possible solutions inaccurate? Are there any thoughts on today's pricing that differs then my findings? Thanks Chris Kleban