Provides high-speed local area network backbones and server connectivity
As customer demand for bandwidth continues to increase at a rapid rate, Centennial has positioned itself to offer virtually unlimited bandwidth through a single network-interface (i.e. Ethernet) for a broad array of applications, to customers served by Centennial-fiber.

Ethernet Services offer a swiftly-escalating scale of local access capacity from 3 Mbps to as high as 1 Gbps (equivalent to 1,000 Mbps), where legacy technologies would otherwise require awkward capacity jumps involving significantly higher monthly-recurring charges, increased capital expenditure and far greater network complexity. By contrast, along the full span of the Ethernet Services product line, less than 8 times the monthly spending will buy you more than 300 times the Mbps-capacity, with no further capital investment and more simplicity. 

Ethernet Services extend reliability, performance and efficiency many customers have come to expect within the Local Area Network (LAN), to networking between locations geographically dispersed across the Wide Area Network (WAN).  And what’s more, Ethernet Services inter-work with many of your existing network technologies.

Features and Components
Ethernet Services feature a wide variety of application scenarios:
• Private Data Applications; interconnect two or more of your organization’s locations in Puerto Rico in a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint network topology, for exchange of corporate data at very high speeds
• Internet Connectivity Services; reliable and high-performance Internet access with a simple Ethernet interface (no T1, DS3 or OC3 interface-cards required)
• Aptus over Ethernet; consolidated access to Centennial’s VoIP feature and application platform at the bandwidth required
• FR/ATM-to Ethernet Internetworking; mix locations supported by Frame Relay, ATM or Ethernet Services to facilitate the exchange of corporate data through Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVC’s) mapped across technologies
•  Ethernet-to-the-NAP; Ethernet-circuit provisioned from a Puerto Rico location to the NAP of the Americas in Miami, to cross-connect to customer-provided local access.

Individual applications like the above are enabled by separate Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN’s) which, as implied by their name, simply manifest themselves to users as extensions to their local working environments.

The bandwidth provisioned for each and every application is aggregated, and an Ethernet port ordered for a bandwidth rate equal or greater than the sum total (in pre-determined increments), on a per-location basis. Private Data Ethernet Services may be ordered in Basic or Premium, the latter of which involves prioritization by Centennial in the event of congestion at any point in the network.

Benefits
The benefits organizations derive from Ethernet Services are many:
• Consolidated local access for multiple applications and deployment scenarios
• Superb scalability: smooth augments from 3 Mbps to 1 Gbps, at a dramatically decreasing cost per incremental Mbps
• Increased network simplicity and efficiency
• Greater network manageability as Ethernet-technology is familiar to existing IT-staff
• Inter-working with legacy network technologies; leverage past investments
• Future-proof access technology

How Does It Work?
The on-premise network equipment to support Ethernet Services (installed, managed and maintained by Centennial) provides four Ethernet ports, which are color-coded to match individual applications’ VLAN’s. The aggregate total of bandwidth rates for the various applications supported at a given location is determined and an Ethernet port sized accordingly.

All private data applications, including FR/ATM-to-Ethernet Internetworking and Ethernet-to-the-NAP, assume two (for point-to-point) or more ports (for point-to-multipoint services); one port on each extreme-end of a connection. Internet Connectivity Services are comprised of one port, plus Internet Connectivity at the Centennial IP-node. Please note that Ethernet Services are only supported from buildings served by Centennial-fiber and in the Metropolitan San Juan area. Roll-out to the remainder of the Centennial network is scheduled for the near future.