A parisian in America: Iometrix grows from ENL

Telecommunications Americas, June, 2004 by Jim Barthold

For Ethernet to succeed as a carrier service there must be a set of rigorous test and performance measures to assure product reliability. Working on that premise--and the belief that Ethernet will, indeed, become a carrier service--industry test pioneer Bob Mandeville has formed Iometrix and opened a San Jose, Calif.-based research and testing facility to address what he sees as a certification gap within the networking and telecom industry.

Iometrix is a new name for an old entity. Mandeville, who's also the company's president, transplanted ENL (European Network Labs), from its Paris, France base where for 10 years it tested and certified Ethernet switches for the Silicon Valley, because, Mandeville said, there's a need for new testing procedures and because the Silicon Valley has "a concentration of vendors, invention, technology" and is "a hub for the development of these services" With some regret--but not much--Iometrix abandoned Paris for the New World.

It's all part of the growth of Ethernet as a transport mechanism, said Mandeville, who takes credit for developing the first tests of Ethernet switching, including fast Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet, ATM and ATM to frame relay.

"Ethernet took a long time to get going," Mandeville said. "The first Ethernet packet was transmitted in 1973, and 802.3 was ratified by the IEEE only in 1985. It took another 10 years for fast Ethernet to be defined."

During that time, Ethernet switching started to happen and needed to be tested. That, said Mandeville, was the impetus for the ENL.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Asking vendors to ship their equipment to Paris for any kind of little test is not very practical," Mandeville said. Instead, Iometrix will perform those "little tests"--and big ones as well--in a new location with a new focus. "Traditional Ethernet testing has been in the enterprise space. That's very different from what's required now that Ethernet is moving into the carrier space," he said. "With its speed and reach, Ethernet is a good candidate for the metro area. Just as I recognized that switched Ethernet was going to be a revolution in networking ... in a similar fashion, I think that the next big test for Ethernet is for it to enter the carrier space."

When it does, a carrier must be sure that equipment conforms to evolving OA&M (operations, administration and management) specifications being developed by the IEEE and organizations like the EFMA (Ethernet in the First Mile Alliance). Iometrix will test whether the Ethernet interfaces are multiplexed or not; how they handle VLANs--bundled, not bundled or partially bundled; and how Layer 2 protocols are handled.

"From a service provider's point of view, it's so important that the service roll out does what's expected or you could have an extremely dangerous mix of a service provider's Ethernet network and the subscriber's Ethernet network. If that happens, both networks go down," Mandeville said. "Iometrix is providing a very complete set of performance tests for the first mile, dealing with typical copper connections, fiber and the operation, administration and management."

To avoid potential catastrophes, "a completely new kind of testing" must be put into place. That's where Iometrix takes off from ENL, which "invented the testing protocols that are used in the enterprise space," he said.

Mandeville anticipates three types of customers for the test facility: traditional carriers, new IP-based service providers and vendors. Each, he said, will have its own agenda and there should be an equal mix of traditional carriers and new players.

The testing will be especially important for the incumbents who "already make a good living from legacy services and they know how legacy services are run," he said. "They're going to require the same thing for Ethernet."

Just as important, he said, vendors will be bringing their wares to Iometrix for performance and interoperability testing.

"They have to be able to say their gear conforms to specifications," Mandeville said. "Once the service provider chooses gear or is in the process of choosing gear, they may well also want to have performance testing done for themselves on their own account."

Can't hurt, of course, to say that your gear complies with whatever specifications are evolving. That kind of attitude, in fact, fits directly into Mandeville's agenda of helping to drive Ethernet deeper into the carrier space.

"Ethernet in the first mile will ... become the dominant technology within the metropolitan and wide area spaces," Mandeville predicted. "A carrier that is used to rolling out DSL services, frame relay services, ATM services and is used to operating and administering those networks and services will find it can do the same thing when it rolls out Ethernet services."

The market will only grow, however, if operators are assured that the equipment meets its advertised potential. "Solid performance testing to back up these new technologies can only help accelerate the adoption of Ethernet services in the first mile," Mandeville said. "If you don't have the testing, it's going to be a very slow and painful process."