Broadband Data Transport Protocol Designed for Ethernet Services in Metro Ethernet Networks

Abstract

The metro Ethernet network (MEN) expands the advantages of Ethernet to cover areas wider than LAN. Ethernet Services were created to provide multiple services to this carrier-grade network that is rapidly growing popularity in North America [21], Europe [22], and Asia [23]. Techniques to police the network layer for MENs are very mature; but the transport layer relies on different flavors of TCP that do not get the most of Ethernet services. We propose a transport layer protocol that can replace previous versions of TCP to better suit metro Ethernet service policies, such as those established for specified service level agreements (SLAs). Ethernet service's traffic and performance parameters include committed information rate (CIR), excess information rate (EIR), and guaranteed packet loss rate. The purpose of this transport protocol is to integrate these parameters, which are applied at the networking layer, into the proposed transport protocol to make a smarter controller.