Ethernet VPN

1. Ethernet VPN Overview

The Colt Ethernet Services portfolio of services enables customers to interconnect their Ethernet local area network (LAN) so that they can operate various company sites as a single office, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Ethernet is the de facto industry standard protocol within the LAN, and Colt Ethernet Services enable customers to extend Ethernet into metropolitan and wide area networks (MANs and WANs).
Colt Ethernet VPN (E-VPN) provides any-to-any connectivity at the Ethernet layer. This means that any office can communicate with any other office on the network over a logical any-to-any topology.
The E-VPN service is a Layer 2 VPN service with switching functionality implemented in the Colt network. This allows any Ethernet frame entering the network at one site to be switched and delivered to any other site, offering:

Any-to-any switched services
Speeds from 2Mbps through to 40Gbps
A dedicated service to a single customer
Metro, National and International coverage with Off-Net access available

The service is a delivered over a star topology, which means that all sites are allowed to
communicate to each other without the requirement of additional switching or routing equipment. The service uses native Ethernet technology, ensuring guaranteed levels of performance. All interfaces are fully transparent to Layer 2 protocols (802.1Q, VLANs, spanning-tree, etc.). Each network has a resilient switching point that will be installed in a Colt node.
The Colt Long Distance Network (LDN) links Colt’s own fibre-optic Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) in 51 cities across 34 countries and 230 city POPs. Colt’s ability to provide end-to-end connections over its own infrastructure ensures, that we can offer customers a high quality, cost- effective solution, backed by comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLAs) and award-winning customer support.

2. Benefits

Colt Ethernet VPN (E-VPN) provides many benefits.

2.1 Connectivity

Because E-VPN is a Layer 2 private network offering any-to-any connectivity, customers are free to configure their network in the way that suits the specific needs of their organisation. This means that they can decide how to set up and run their network, and making changes could not be easier or more straightforward. Each office can communicate with any other office over a logical star topology, and because it’s a switched service, any Ethernet frame that enters the network at one site can be delivered to its destination in an instant.

2.2 Cost effective solution

Total Cost of Ownership of a WAN can be reduced by up to 30% when compared with other networking options. This is because less equipment is needed and connections are normally cheaper than leased lines and other connectivity technologies. In addition, customers are able to use the same internal expertise they already have managing their LANs in the WAN..

2.3 Transparency

E-VPN uses native Ethernet technology, and all interfaces are fully transparent to Layer 2 Ethernet protocols. That means customers can run their own VLAN, broadcast and multicast domains across the infrastructure to suit specific requirements. And, of course, it doesn’t matter if sites are primarily Metro, National or International, an E-VPN forges them into a single entity.

2.4 Flexibility

E-VPN delivers total flexibility through the ability to change bandwidths to sites and to add new sites to an existing E-VPN whenever and wherever they are required. Colt ensures that customers can increase their bandwidth in much smaller increments than other options can provide. This enhanced granularity means customers can go from 2Mbps to 40Gbps in small, logical steps and pay only for what they need. Bandwidth is guaranteed to each and every site, and Colt offers Class of Service (CoS) allowing customers to prioritise application traffic and thereby manage their use of bandwidth to ensure business efficiency.

2.5 Quality and Service

Resilience, security and performance are vital issues, and because Ethernet is delivered over dedicated circuits, customers can be sure of all three. Resilience is provided with options for enhanced redundancy. Colt’s track record in ensuring that customer networks are consistently robust is one of the reasons that we have won so many awards for customer service over the years. Ethernet services are covered by an end-to-end Service Level Agreement (SLA) with compensation to back up targets for delivery, availability and time to repair.

2.6 Market recognition

Colt has developed an unmatched pan-European Ethernet portfolio, frequently praised by market analysts and widely recognised as the industry benchmark. Colt is a member of the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), a global industry alliance that aims to accelerate the worldwide adoption of carrier class Ethernet networks and services. The Colt Ethernet portfolio is certified to the latest MEF Carrier Ethernet standard – Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE2.0).

Colt has won many industry awards, including:

Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards – Fixed Network Infrastructure Innovation with Cyan for SDN enabled network (2014)
Leading Lights Winner – Most innovative Ethernet / Optical Service for SDN enabled network (2014)
Global Carrier Awards – DC Net leveraging SDN and NFV for the growing Asian DC market (2015)
Telco Cloud Forum Awards – Best Telco Cloud SDN/NFV Project for DCNet On Demand (2016)
Global Carrier Awards – Best SDN/NFV deployment for On Demand (2016)
Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards – Infrastructure Innovation for AT&T PoC (2016)
Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards – Enterprise Service Innovation for SD WAN with Versa (2016)
Leading Lights Awards – Most Innovative SD-WAN deployment strategy (2017)
Layer 123 Network Transformation Awards – Best SD WAN service & Best new cloud optical solution for DCA On-Demand (2017)
Global Carrier Awards – Best SDN/NFV Deployment for On Demand and SD WAN (2017)
Global Carrier Awards – Best Asian Project for Colt IQ Network (Optical & Ethernet architecture) (2017)
Global Telecoms Awards – Most innovative cloud service for DCA On-Demand (2017)
MetroEthernet Forum Excellence Awards for the EMEA Region over a 13 year period (the last ones displayed below)

2010 Service Provider of the Year, Best Business Ethernet Service
2011 Service Provider of the Year, Best Business Ethernet Service
2012 Service Provider of the Year, Best Marketing, Best Carrier Ethernet Business Application x 2
2013 Service Provider of the Year, Best Carrier Ethernet Business Application, Best Wholesale Service
2014 Best Service of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Wholesale Service
2015 Provider of the Year, Best Application x 2, Best Network Technology Wholesale Service Provider of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Network Innovation, Enterprise Application x 2
2016 Wholesale Service Provider of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Service Innovation, Best Marketing, Enterprise Application x 2
2017 Wholesale Service Provider of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Network & Service Innovation, Lifecycle Service Orchestration of the Year, Best Marketing, Enterprise Application x 2
2018 Wholesale Service Provider of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Network & Service Innovation, Enterprise Application x 2
2019 Wholesale Service Provider of the Year, Retail Service Provider of the Year, Network & Service Innovation, Enterprise Application and Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) leadership.

3. Colt Network Coverage

Colt’s secure and reliable network provides unrivalled reach across 34 countries with fibre-based metropolitan area networks (MANs) in 51 major cities. More than 1100 Data Centres and >31,000 buildings are directly connected to the Colt network.

3.1 Europe

Colt’s long-distance pan-European transmission network spans over 49,000km of fibre-optic infrastructure laid in protective ducts that are wholly owned and managed by Colt. Services are provided in 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

3.2 Asia Pacific Region

Colt has significant presence in the Asia region and is able to deliver Ethernet services across Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia on its own network footprint. The service can be extended through the use of partner networks in the Region.
Also Colt has recently expanded its network in Australia, connecting 4 Datacenters in Sydney.

3.3 Middle-East

Colt has recently expanded its IQNet platform in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates which is one of the most attractive cities in the region for businesses. We are able to deliver Ethernet services in two on-net Datacenters in Dubai for our customers. Other sites can be reached with our OLO partners.

3.4 North America

Colt has also extended its network to the USA and Canada as part of its Global Expansion programme. Colt now connects 30 Data Centres in key city locations such as New York, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle and Toronto. Again, the service can be extended through the use of extensive partner networks in the Region.

3.5 Unrivalled global coverage

As an integral part of its global network expansion programme Colt also continually upgrades its sub-sea cable infrastructure by adding new international 100G submarine cables to seamlessly interconnect three continents. With multiple cable systems and different landing points, Colt is able to provide diverse network paths to offer even more resilient solutions to its customers. By combining Colt’s own extensive network to On-Net sites with partner connectivity for Off-Net sites, Ethernet offers unrivalled global coverage across the world. This means that customers can use Ethernet to connect their sites in a single seamless solution which is both easy to manage and cost-effective. Colt has established External Network-Network Interconnects (E-NNI) with more than 150 partners world-wide.

4. Service Description

4.1 Topology

4.1.1 Any to Any Connectivity

Ethernet VPN provides multi-site connectivity to customers. E-VPN is compliant to the MEF E-LAN definition of a multipoint to multipoint Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC) service. The service can be configured as an Ethernet Private LAN (EP-LAN) or Ethernet Virtual Private LAN (EVP-LAN) service. The physical architecture is a star topology providing any-to-any logical communication as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1: E-VPN logical topography

The Colt network acts as a single logical switch with physical switching taking place at all core network devices. This fully distributed switching ensures that the latency of all site to site traffic is optimised and that customer applications run efficiently.

Figure 2: E-VPN switching topology

Multiple EP-LAN services can be configured on a single customer interface (multiplexed Ethernet UNI) with the individual services segregated by VLAN. This service option is called EVP-LAN.

4.2 Network access

Colt has a comprehensive range of options for connecting the customer’s sites to Colt’s services. Whichever access method type is used, the solution will be created and managed by Colt under a single end-to-end Service Level Agreement.

Figure 3: Network access technologies

4.2.1 Colt access types

Colt’s global network connects fibre-based metropolitan area networks (MANs) in 51 major cities across 34 countries. More than 31,000 buildings are directly connected to this network. Customer sites can be directly connected to this network using the following access types:

4.2.1.1 Fibre

Offices located in buildings that are directly connected to the Colt network will be connected via Colt’s own fibre-optic infrastructure. Colt’s Metropolitan fibre networks deliver high capacity, high speed bandwidth services to Europe’s major business centres, which in turn are interconnected via the Colt fibre-optic network (LDN) delivering high quality reliable services door to door.

4.2.1.2 Fibre ULL

Colt uses Fibre unbundled local loop (ULL) to provide high speed connections to customer sites using third party Fibre technology that is deployed by a number of operators across Europe and the Asia Pacific. Colt deploys its own terminating equipment on customer premises.

4.2.2 Partner access types

For sites not directly connected to the Colt network, Colt E-VPN can be provided using a mixture of Colt and third-party other licensed operator (OLO) infrastructure and services. Colt interconnects with and manages more than 150 partners in order to connect sites that are outside the reach of the Colt network in Europe or in other global locations.
Colt will order a circuit or circuits from the OLO on the customer’s behalf, and customers will still be dealing directly with Colt at all times. Colt also takes responsibility for testing the interface between our network and the OLO’s circuit to ensure that the customer’s overall E-VPN service operates seamlessly.

Customer sites can be connected through partner networks using the following access types:

4.2.2.1 Ethernet tails

Both protected and unprotected Ethernet circuits can be used to extend Colt’s network to customer sites. Partner services are technically validated for compliance with key Ethernet technology
standards and Colt’s own product specification.
Integration is achieved using both simple cross-connected point-to-point services and External NNI (E-NNI) connections. E-NNIs offer many advantages in terms of manageability, cost and deployment. Colt adheres to MEF standards and has >400 E-NNIs established globally.
Colt uses Ethernet demarcation devices to provide sophisticated standards-based Operations Administration and Maintenance (OAM) end-to-end.

4.3 Bandwidth Options

The Ethernet VPN service is able to support bandwidths on a per site basis as listed in the following table

Table 1: Ethernet VPN bandwidth options

2 Mbps	100 Mbps	1 Gbps*
4 Mbps	200 Mbps	2 Gbps
6 Mbps	300 Mbps	3 Gbps
8 Mbps	400 Mbps	4 Gbps
10 Mbps	500 Mbps	5 Gbps
20 Mbps	600 Mbps	6 Gbps
30 Mbps		10 Gbps***
40 Mbps		20 Gbps***
50 Mbps		30 Gbps***
60 Mbps		40 Gbps***

*:max bandwidth for international circuits between Dubai and other regions.
**:max bandwidth for national circuits in North America and international circuits between North-America/Europe/Asia/Australia
***:bandwidth available only for intra-Europe circuits and intra-Japan, Singapore and Hong-Kong circuits between specific datacenters (Key DCs).
There is no constraint on the mixture of site bandwidths that can be provisioned for a given E-VPN

5. Features

Ethernet VPN features include

Class of Service (CoS)
Link Aggregation (LAG)

5.1 Class of Service (CoS)

Class of Service is available for E-VPN Metro, National and International services. Colt’s CoS feature provides customers with a means to differentiate the importance of application traffic and to allocate an explicit prioritisation. Five levels of prioritisation can be defined:

Premium – Has the highest priority in case of congestion
Business 1 – Has the second highest priority in case of congestio
Business 2 – Has the third highest priority in case of congestion
Business 3 – Has the fourth highest priority in case of congestion
Standard – Has the lowest priority in case of congestion

A Committed Information Rate (CIR) is associated to each class and the lower classes can also use any available bandwidth from the higher classes when it is available. (Hierarchical CoS). The CIR allocation per class is shown in the table below

Class	CIR (Committed Information Rate)
Premium	15%
Business 1	15%
Business 2	20%
Business 1	20%
Standard	30%

Customers are responsible for setting up their traffic prioritisation rules. Colt’s CoS classification can be based on one of the following options:

IP DSCP
802.1p marking

CoS is available for on-net sites, sites connected using Fibre ULL technology and also for off-net sites connected over OLO Ethernet tails where Colt’s Ethernet demarcation device has been deployed.

5.2 Link Aggregation

Link Aggregation (LAG) provides port/interface resilience on the customer’s CPE. This resilience is achieved through the configuration of redundancy on two physical interfaces – one interface acts as the backup for the other. If the ‘active’ interface should fail, LAG automatically directs all service traffic to the second, ‘backup’ interface. LAG is based on Link Aggregation Standard (IEEE 802.3ad) and is supported on 1GbE and 10GbE interfaces.

6. Performance Reporting

Service Performance Reporting is available as a ‘bundled’ feature for Colt Ethernet services. This is offered via Colt Analytics, a reporting tool that enables customers to view the performance of their Colt Ethernet services in near ‘real time’ and provides the following features:

Ability to view general service characteristics
- Service Availability, Circuit Bandwidth Utilisation, Port Utilisation
Detailed Reports on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)-
- Round Trip Delay (RTD), Jitter, Frame Loss
Customer selectable reporting period including historic data (up to 1 year)
Option to download reports – CSV and PDF
Support for all Ethernet topologies – Ethernet Line, Ethernet H&S, E-VPN, Private Ethernet

Customers can access the reporting tool via the Colt Online web portal. The service data is stored for a period of 1 year allowing historical reporting and trend analysis to be performed.
Online Performance Reporting is a standard feature for Ethernet services delivered on the Colt IQNet platform and for Off-Net services where a Colt demarcation device is installed at the customer’s premises.

7. Resilience & Diversity

7.1 Resilience

Colt Ethernet VPN access service are available with the following resilience options:

Unprotected – Ethernet VPN services are available with unprotected access. A single fibre extends from the Colt node to the customer premises where the customer interface is delivered. In this case, the Colt core network remains protected with primary and failover paths.
Protected – The Ethernet VPN services are available as ‘end-to-end’ protected by fibre pair failover combined with the inherent protection mechanism of the core Colt network. Still, a single customer interface is delivered in the customer premises. There is no guarantee that the fibre pair used on the access will be diverse: some SPOF may be present.

Table 2 : Resilience option service availability (indicative values for Europe)

Resilience Level	Availability (at end of measurement period)
Unprotected	99.9%
Protected	99.95%

7.2 Diversity

The Diversity feature is used with two standard services to request delivery of the pair of services in a diverse relationship from one another. The purpose of this option is to provide the maximum diversity on every elements of the access part that compose the communication chain between the A-end and the B-end of a circuit.
When the Diversity option is ordered for on-net buildings, Colt will deliver the following in the access part of the circuit :

2 x NTE in the customer premise, each with a single interface.
2 diverse fibre path between the customer premise and the Colt POP. The fibre path is guaranteed to have no SPOF (note: there may be a SPOF close to the customer building if a single entry is used).
2 separate access devices (entry points to the Colt backbone network – AR on the diagram below) either located in the same Colt POP or in two different POPs (majority of cases).

Figure 4 : Standard Diversity (A-end view only)

In the case where two diverse services are deployed to a given site then an enhanced ‘combination’ SLA is possible giving an overall site availability of 99.999%. Details of this option are available in the SLA document.
In all cases the Colt core network is fully protected with primary and failover paths supported for each service.

8. Security

The physical security of our buildings is tightly controlled and access is strictly limited to authorised personnel only. All areas within Colt buildings are secured by means of an electronic access control system to ensure that access is controlled. All people must hold an appropriate pass card while on Colt premises. Non-Colt personnel are not allowed on Colt premises without specific authorisation and prior arrangement. Guests must be vouched for by a Colt host or verified by security in buildings.
In addition, Colt complies with the applicable data legislation.

8.1 E-VPN Security

Colt E-VPN services are separated at the transport layer using dedicated circuit paths and therefore it is impossible for one customer to intercept or send data to or from another customer’s sites via their own access. Colt’s E-VPN services are delivered utilising a network resource that is reserved for that service and for each individual customer.

9. Service Delivery

9.1 Demarcation point

The service demarcation point for Colt services is the customer interface at the Colt access equipment. Colt will normally present its Ethernet services on an industry compliant patch panel within a Colt cabinet, but may also present this within a customer cabinet or designated building ‘Meet Me Room’ (MMR)/Common Equipment Area (CEA). The precise customer site deployment will normally be determined by a site survey during the service delivery phase and will be influenced by the technical deployment rules of Colt or its partners, the cabling architecture within the customer building and the customer’s equipment area. The deployment may typically include an Ethernet NTE, patch panel and power conditioning equipment.
If customers require in-house cabling from the Colt cabinet to their equipment, this will be a chargeable service.
If Colt installs cabling on the customers’ behalf, the demarcation point remains the same: the base of the Colt cabinet. Colt is not responsible for fault-finding on the in-house cabling.

Figure 5 : Demarcation Point

9.2 New service order

A new service order is the initial provision of the service to the customer premises, including the initial configuration of the network to the specification provided in the order form.

9.2.1 New E-VPN service order

Lead times for a new E-VPN service are provided in the SLA. These depend upon the location and service options required. These lead times are backed up by compensation payable on a sliding percentage scale in the event of late delivery and this is detailed in the SLA.

9.3 Modifying an existing service

Modifying an existing service consists of the subsequent enabling or disabling of service features, functions and interfaces as well as service changes following initial installation, which are chargeable items.

9.3.1 Modifying an E-VPN service

Following provision and installation of an E-VPN service, customers can ask Colt to enable additional features, functions and interfaces, and request changes to the service. The implementation of most changes is chargeable, and some changes may mean that revised rental charges apply. Changes fall into two categories: A and B.

Category A modifications – Regarded as a new provision in terms of lead times. These are change requests that require physical alternations to the equipment that delivers the service. Examples include provisioning CoS functionality or adding bandwidth where there is no capacity, which is regarded as a new provision in terms of lead times
Category B modifications – Require 10 working days lead time. These are configuration changes that can be carried out remotely and within normal working hours and include the following:
- Bandwidth downgrade
- Changing the CoS parameters or adding Cos to an existing service
- Bandwidth upgrade (no physical work)

9.3.2 Out-of-hours changes

Changes that need to be handled out-of-hours must be scheduled and approved in advance, and there is a two-week lead time for scheduling them. (This does not apply to emergency changes.) Ask a Colt Account Executive for more information.

9.3.3 Cessation of service

Cessation of service is within 60 working days from request by the customer. Request for cessation of service may be subject to a charge in accordance with Colt standard terms and conditions. Should the customer cancel their order during installation, Colt reserves the right to raise a charge.

9.4 Fast track installation

Fast Track allows customers to expedite delivery of their order and receive their service on a date specified by the customer (generally prior to the standard lead time), or, if this date is not possible, on the earliest possible date.
Fast Track installation is available for all On-Net sites in all Colt geographic locations. If Fast Track is possible, Colt will provide a Fast Track delivery date based on technical feasibility, which customers can accept or reject. If accepted, the Fast Track option incurs an extra charge in addition to the standard installation fee.
Consult a Colt Account Executive for more information.

10. Service assurance

Colt provides a high level of service assurance:

The core network is proactively monitored
A local language help desk is available 24 x 7
Colt Online provides a web-based portal that enables customers to view bills and trouble tickets