Book excerpt: Understand and evaluate the delivery of Carrier Ethernet using different technologies Carrier Ethernet is rapidly becoming the de facto platform for offering the next generation of high-bandwidth multimedia applications. Delivering Carrier Ethernet: Extending Ethernet Beyond the LAN provides, for the very first time, an in-depth assessment of the various network solutions that can be used to deliver Carrier Ethernet services. The book is based on extensive real-world deployments and is written by globally renowned experts. A standard solution framework is used consistently throughout to address each underlying technology, its benefits and pitfalls, deployment approaches, ongoing developments, economic assessments, and key vendors promoting the solution. The potential evolution of Carrier Ethernet itself is also considered in detail. Copper HFC (Hybrid Fiber-Coax) PONs (Passive Optical Networks) TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) Fiber and WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) Optical Wireless Mesh Network/Free Space Optics SONET (Synchronous Optical NETworking)/MSPP (Multi-Service Provisioning Platform) RPR (Resilient Packet Ring) Bridging/Switching MPLS (MultiProtocol Label Switching) WiMAX/WiMAC