Connecting Base Stations over Metro Gigabit Ethernets TIK Report 238

Emerging high-speed metropolitan Ethernets create new opportunities to save costs when con- verging data and telephony services. However, connecting GSM and UMTS base stations as well as private branch exchanges (PBX) over metropolitan Ethernets require these networks to meet QoS re- quirements in the presence of bursty data traffic. To investi gate this problem, we have probed ETH's campus network for several weeks. This network is one of the best equipped campus networks in Europe and spans the metropolitan area of Zurich. Our results indicate that even this network does not offer sufficient QoS to connect base stations and PBXs. Sp ecifically, the frame loss rate is at times high and thus violates the QoS requirement as stated by the Metro Ethernet Forum.