Ethernet connections

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Introduction

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Connections are circuits that are routed between two On Demand ports.

There are three different connection types:

Ethernet connection between two On Demand access ports (EPL, EVPL or VLAN based mesh)

Cloud connection between an On Demand access port and a cloud port, or between two cloud ports

Internet connection that terminates on an On Demand access port

This section covers Ethernet connections.

Topologies

On Demand ports can be dynamically configured to support either Ethernet Private Line (“point to point”) based on transparent handover or Ethernet Virtual Private Line “(hub and spoke”) services based on a VLAN handover.

EPL and EVPL are not treated as different service types in the On Demand platform, although EPL/EVPL services have different VLAN configurations on the origin and destination ports .

Ethernet Private Line

The Ethernet Private Line (“point to point”) topology is illustrated below.

Ethernet p2p

Ethernet Virtual Private Line

Ethernet Virtual Private Line (“Hub and Spoke”), based on a VLAN handover at the A end and port based handover at the B end is shown below:

Ethernet P2P 2

EVPL (mesh)

On Demand enables a variation of Ethernet Virtual Private Line, based on a VLAN handover at both the A end B ends – supporting a mesh topology.

Ethernet P2P 3

Bandwidth

Ethernet connection bandwidths

On Demand connections support bandwidths between 10Mbps and 40Gbps. Higher bandwidths are available on request.

The below table shows the bandwidths that are supported.

Component Bandwidths Description
Port Port speeds (on-net or hybrid on-net / FTTx)
  • 1Gbps
  • 10Gbps
  • 100Gbps (at key DCs only)
Port speeds (off-net)
  • 10Mbps-10Gbps
On-net / hybrid on-net ports
Full rate port speeds (circuit connections up to the physical port speed)
Overbooking is available on request for On Demand ports used as an NNI.
Transparent (open port) or VLAN mode

Offnet ports
Full rate port speed.
Overbooking not supported.
Transparent mode only (no VLAN support)
Connection All locations:
10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500Mbps, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10Gbps

Key data centres only:
20, 30, 40Gbps 		Logical Ethernet circuit connection between 2 On Demand ports

The minimum bandwidth of an Ethernet circuit connection on any port is 10Mbps. For 1Gbps/10Gbps ports, the maximum connection speed is the port speed. For 100Gbps ports the maximum port speed is 40Gbps (KDC-KDC only).

Ethernet connection pricing & VLAN configuration

Connection charges

Under the On Demand flex pricing model, circuit connections are based on 1 hour and 3/6/12/24/36 month commitments. Customers are charged a per hour rental based on the bandwidth and commitment.

Under the traditional/fixed pricing model, circuit connections are based on fixed 12/24/36 month contracts.

To check the price of an Ethernet Connection:

  1. Select the "New Connection" on the Home page or "+Ethernet" button on the connection page
  2. Select an Origin and a Destination port (which can be new or existing) and a bandwidth and commitment term for each port
  3. Select a bandwidth and commitment term for the connection.
  4. The price will be displayed in the bottom right of the screen

For further details, please refer to the pricing section.

Ethernet price

VLAN configuration

Connections have three VLAN modes, which apply to each end of the circuit connection:
Open port 1 circuit connection per port Port based handover, all VLANs are passed transparently
Add VLAN Multiple circuit connections per port (Colt adds VLAN tag) VLAN based handover, 1 VLAN per Connection. VLAN added on egress, towards customer (in translation mode). VLAN can be S-VLAN (88a8) or C-VLAN (8100)
Filter VLAN Multiple circuit connections per port (Colt filters VLAN tags) VLAN filtered on ingress to Colt network (against a single VLAN number).

The supported combinations are shown in the below table (A end and B ends can be used interchangeably).

Notes:

  1. The cloud end is automatically configured as “add VLAN”
  2. Only 8100 CVLANs supported at AWS end
  3. Supports different VLAN at each end. VLAN PCP will not be preserved
  4. For further details on cloud VLAN configurations, please refer to the cloud connectivity section
Open port Open port Standard Ethernet Private Line (EPL) configuration Ethernet Line (EPL) Supported N/A N/A Supported
Add VLAN Open port Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) configuration Ethernet Hub & Spoke Supported Supported Supported Supported
Add VLAN Add VLAN Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), hub presentation at both ends (note 3) N/A Supported Supported Supported Supported
Filter VLAN Filter VLAN As per scenario 3 above, except VLAN IDs are preserved (same at each end) Ethernet Line (EVPL) Supported N/A N/A Supported

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