Ethernet or Circuit Emulation over a Packet Switched Network (PSN). The goals of PWE3 are similar in many ways to what we have known for over a decade as ‘multiservice.’ The difference is that IP and MPLS have replaced ATM as the fundamental switching and transport technology.

The PWE3 working group was originally formed in mid-2001, although PWs were originally known as private wires (a little-known fact). Even so, the ideas behind PWs did not originate in 2001. Axerra Networks has been at the forefront of envisioning multiservice using IP and MPLS since before 1999. Axerra coined the terms Multiservice over IP (MSoIP), Circuit Emulation Service over IP (CESoIP), Frame Relay over IP (FRoIP), and ATM over IP (ATMoIP) – and still owns the Internet domain names and trademarks for these terms. Thus, Axerra has been an early innovator of Pseudo-Wire technology and a leading contributor to the PWE3.

Standardization efforts rapidly reaching fruition in PWE3, as well as ITU-T, the IP/MPLS Forum, and the Metro Ethernet Forum, bode well for the adoption of PW technology by the service provider industry. Axerra understands that Pseudo-Wire is simply a new term for the next generation of multiservice – multiservice over IP and MPLS. Based on its experience in this technology, predating even its new name, and based on contributions to these standardization efforts, Axerra is well positioned to lead service providers’ uptake of Pseudo-Wire networking.