1.

Introduction
In today's business world, reliable and efficient access to information has become an important
asset in the quest to achieve a competitive advantage. Computer networking technologies are the
glue that binds these elements together. Networking allows one computer to send information to
and receive information from another. We can classify network technologies as belonging to one
of two basic groups. Local area network (LAN) technologies connect many devices that are
relatively close to each other, usually in the same building. The library terminals that display book
information would connect over a local area network. Wide area network (WAN) technologies
connect a smaller number of devices that can be many kilometers apart.
In comparison to WANs, LANs are faster and more reliable, but improvements in technology
continue to blur the line of demarcation. Fiber optic cables have allowed LAN technologies to
connect devices tens of kilometers apart, while at the same time greatly improving the speed and
reliability of WANs.

2. Ethernet
Ethernet has been a relatively inexpensive, reasonably fast, and very popular LAN technology for
several decades. Two individuals at Xerox PARC -- Bob Metcalfe and D.R. Boggs -- developed
Ethernet beginning in 1972 and specifications based on this work appeared in IEEE 802.3 in
1980. Ethernet has since become the most popular and most widely deployed network
technology in the world. Many of the issues involved with Ethernet are common to many network
technologies, and understanding how Ethernet addressed these issues can provide a foundation
that will improve your understanding of networking in general.
The Ethernet standard has grown to encompass new technologies as computer networking has
matured. Specified in a standard, IEEE 802.3, an Ethernet LAN typically uses coaxial cable or
special grades of twisted pair wires. Ethernet is also used in wireless LANs. Ethernet uses the
CSMA/CD access method to handle simultaneous demands. The most commonly installed
Ethernet systems are called 10BASE-T and provide transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps. Devices
are connected to the cable and compete for access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) protocol. Fast Ethernet or 100BASE-T provides transmission
speeds up to 100 megabits per second and is typically used for LAN backbone systems,
supporting workstations with 10BASE-T cards. Gigabit Ethernet provides an even higher level of
backbone support at 1000 megabits per second (1 gigabit or 1 billion bits per second). 10-Gigabit
Ethernet provides up to 10 billion bits per second.
 3. IEEE standards
IEEE developed a set of network standards. They include:
• IEEE 802.1: Standards related to network management.
• IEEE 802.2: General standard for the data link layer in the OSI Reference Model. The IEEE
divides this layer into two sub-layers -- the logical link control (LLC) layer and the media
access control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer varies for different network types and is
defined by standards IEEE 802.3 through IEEE 802.5.
• IEEE 802.3: Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use CSMA/CD. This is the basis
of the Ethernet standard.
• IEEE 802.4: Defines the MAC layer for bus networks that use a token-passing mechanism
(token bus networks).
• IEEE 802.5: Defines the MAC layer for token-ring networks.
• IEEE 802.6: Standard for Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).

4. Ethernet layers

Ethernet is popular because it’s scalable, meaning that it’s comparatively easy to integrate new
technologies, such as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet, into an existing network infrastructure.
Ethernet uses both Data Link and Physical layer specifications.

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 5. CSMA/CD
The acronym CSMA/CD signifies carrier-sense multiple access with collision detection
and describes how the Ethernet protocol regulates communication among nodes. In other words,
CSMA/CD is a set of rules determining how network devices respond when two devices attempt to
use a data channel simultaneously (called a collision). Standard Ethernet networks use CSMA/CD.
This standard enables devices to detect a collision. After detecting a collision, a device waits a random
delay time and then attempts to re-transmit the message. If the device detects a collision again, it
waits twice as long to try to re-transmit the message.
6. Traditional and Carrier Ethernet in Protocol in protocol level
The lower layer of the OSI model cover the standards that describe how a LAN system moves bits
around. The layers of interest for Ethernet are the lower two layers of the OSI model.

Physical Layer: The Physical layer specifies the electrical, mechanical, procedural, and functional
requirements for activating, maintaining, and deactivating a physical link between end systems.
Data link layer: Establishes communication from station to station across a single link. This is
the layer that transmits and receives frames, recognizes link addresses, etc. The part of the
standard that describes the Ethernet frame format and MAC protocol belongs to this layer.

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 Network layer: Establishes communication from station to station across an internetwork,
which is composed of a number of data links. This layer provides a level of independence from
the lower two layers by establishing higher level functions and procedures for exchanging data
between computers across multiple links. Standards at this layer of the model describe portions
of the high-level network protocols that are carried over an Ethernet in the data field of the
Ethernet frame. Protocols at this layer of the OSI model and above are independent of
the Ethernet standard.
Transport layer: Provides reliable end-to-end error recovery mechanisms and flow control in
the higher level networking software.
Session layer: Provides mechanisms for establishing reliable communications between
cooperating applications.
Presentation layer: Provides mechanisms for dealing with data representation in applications.
Application layer: Provides mechanisms to support end-user applications such as mail, file
transfer, etc.
7. Carrier Ethernet
Although numerous efforts, both informal and formal (standards-based), have been undertaken to
make Ethernet more viable as a technology and service beyond the LAN, the MEF(Metro Ethernet
Forum ) has been instrumental in initiating a substantial formal effort to define Carrier Ethernet
services (delivered by Service Providers).
Basically, Carrier Ethernet appends standard Enterprise Ethernet with additional features and
protocols that provide the capabilities Carriers need to deliver services to their customers. IEEE
standard 802.1ah, also known as MAC-in-MAC, solves this problem by adding hierarchical MAC
addressing to Ethernet. These are just a few examples of how Carrier Ethernet differs from traditional
Ethernet.
In traditional Ethernet each end-user has their own MAC address, which works great for LAN’s
(essentially isolated islands of connectivity). However, when Carriers start interconnecting disparate
LAN’s, transporting millions of user’s data traffic in the process, there is a need for MAC address
isolation. While in an ideal world, everyone has a unique MAC address, unfortunately that is not
always the case as sometimes NIC’s and the MAC addresses embedded in them have been cloned.
Ethernet’s traditional flat addressing scheme can wreak havoc when two independent LAN’s have
been interconnected by a Carrier. IEEE standard 802.1ah, also known as MAC-in-MAC, solves this
problem by adding hierarchical MAC addressing to Ethernet.
In carrier Ethernet, there is no need for the CSMAICD method. It uses a full duplex switched Ethernet,
each station is connected to the switch via two separate links. Each station or switch can send and
receive independently without worrying about collision. Each link is a point-to-point dedicated path
between the station and the switch. There is no longer a need for carrier sensing; there is no longer
a need for collision detection.

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 8. Carrier Ethernet versus Ethernet
When most think of Ethernet, they think of Ethernet as a LAN technology. Three fundamental aspects
differentiate Ethernet LANs from Carrier Ethernet:

• Each user connects to a dedicated Ethernet port on the LAN

• The LAN serves one organization
• The LAN is inside the building
Ethernet is prefixed with the word “Carrier” to indicate its usage and additional capabilities. These
additional capabilities enable end-users to build MANs and WANs, and service providers to build
network infrastructure or deliver Ethernet-based MAN or WAN telecommunications services.
Carrier Ethernet augments the original set of Ethernet LAN technologies with support for the new
capabilities required to deliver services. Three fundamental aspects differentiate Carrier Ethernet
networks from Ethernet LANs:

• An entire organization connects to a Carrier Ethernet “port” at a given subscriber location.

• The Carrier Ethernet network serves many organizations
• The Carrier Ethernet network is outside the building across a wide area.

9. Summary
Carrier Ethernet augments the familiar and ubiquitous Ethernet LAN technologies to build metro and
wide-area networks. Carrier Ethernet is used to build network infrastructure and deliver retail and
wholesale communications services.
Ethernet networks face congestion problems as they increased in size. If a large number of stations
connected to the same segment and each generated a sizable amount of traffic, many stations may
attempt to transmit whenever there was an opportunity. Under these circumstances, collisions
would become more frequent and could begin to choke out successful transmissions, which could
take inordinately large amounts of time to complete. One way to reduce congestion would be to split
a single segment into multiple segments, thus creating multiple collision domains. This solution
creates a different problem, as now these now separate segments are not able to share information
with each other.

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References
1. MH Technical title / Delivering Carrier Ethernet: Extending Ethernet beyond the LAN / Kasim
/ 747-6 / Chapter 2
2. Different papers about Ethernet obtained over the internet