Today I had an eye-opening meeting with a Metro Fiber and Services Provider. What blew me away was what they claimed as the current pricing structure of Metro Ethernet Services, either between buildings, between floors in the same building and even in some cases between racks on the same floor!
The company I spoke with is very well versed in all sorts of SDH/PDH and Ethernet solutions. One of their quotes was:
“We can sell an E1 from Europe to America for less than one-fifth of the cost of a Gigabit Ethernet between two CoLo houses here in Europe. If the Gigabit Ethernet is between two racks in the same CoLo house the cost is even higher!”
If this is the case then there is definitely a market for someone to take advantage of. Only a pair of fibers and an Ethernet Centric DWDM system with built-in switching and you’re there. Provided, of course, it can be had at a cost that makes sense.
Now I’m off to Switzerland for a few days!
