Grasp the future of Ethernet

For you it could mean a vital competitive edge in the ever-growing market for secure, high-bandwidth services. For your customers it heralds the arrival of cheaper, secure Ethernet.

Launching near the end of April (with phase two due in June), Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) provides cheaper, more streamlined, future focused, Ethernet solutions. It supersedes the existing Wholesale Extension Services (WES), Backhaul Extension Services (BES) and Wholesale End-to-End Ethernet Service (WEES) options, to offer a single product with common tariffs, terms and conditions and technical capabilities.

This simplicity together with enhanced diagnostics and more affordable security options is expected to have a positive impact on all Ethernet focused customers.

Peter Newton, Head of Ethernet Development said: “In the current financial climate, we believe EAD will give our customers more affordable access to Ethernet products, enable them to satisfy the growing demand for these services among end users and therefore help to accelerate their businesses forward.

“This launch is only the beginning though. EAD is a next generation network compatible service, and is therefore designed to open the door to a host of exciting new developments that are already being considered. We plan to bring our customers more news and events around this topic in the months to come.”

EAD benefits and your business

• A price reduction of up to 68 per cent for EAD Network Resilience Options 1 and 2 gives you the ability to offer your customers cheaper network security and service assurance. In a nutshell, security diversity becomes a ‘no brainer’.
• Greatly improved diagnostics enable you to query faults in real time, pinpoint problems and ensure faster repair times ­− offering immediate opportunities to enhance end user experience.
• As a next generation compatible service, EAD paves the way for a host of exciting new developments and future benefits.
• Single fibre connectivity is expected to make it easier to locate spare fibre in our network, which could, in some cases, lead to lower costs and faster connectivity.
• And finally, a 5 per cent reduction on rental over existing Ethernet services offers even more savings at a time when money is tight!

The phased launch of EAD products begins on 22nd April when an initial range of variants will become available for order. Click here to learn more about EAD and what it means for you.

About network security

The launch of EAD makes Resilience Options more affordable than ever. Resilience itself offers peace of mind by ensuring that if a fault was to occur on one circuit, a resilient path will continue to provide service – greatly reducing the risk of failure for all concerned. Briefly, the two options available from Openreach are:

• Resilience Option 1 − offers a single circuit between two locations with two diversely routed fibre paths. Should the main path be damaged it switches to the standby path within 50 milliseconds of detection.
• Resilience Option 2 − enables two functioning Ethernet circuits to have their fibre paths diversely routed from one another, minimising the chance of them both being affected by an incident.

If you are interested in discussing the impact of EAD on you and the opportunities presented by its launch, please contact your Sales and Relationship Manager or email us at customer-feedback@openreach.co.uk.