Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd has launched its dedicated global ethernet (DGE) Service for the Australia market. VSNL''s DGE Service is a global Ethernet private line (EPL) service that allows Australian enterprises to flexibly and cost effectively connect with 120 cities in India plus 20 major business destinations throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

VSNL recently became the first global Ethernet provider to achieve both Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) 9 and MEF 14 certifications verifying conformance to the international ''quality of service'' (QoS) standard attributes and bandwidth guarantees defined by the MEF. The Metro Ethernet Forum is a global industry alliance that develops Ethernet standards with the cooperation of over 120 companies worldwide including telecommunications service providers cable multi service operators, network equipment and software makers, semiconductors vendors and testing organisations.

The Indian telecom gateway provider''s dedicated global Ethernet service employs an Ethernet over SDH / SONET platform to ensure low latency and jitter, and high reliability. This also, complements VSNL''s global Ethernet over MPLS (EoMPLS) offering, which provides both point-to-point and hub and spoke services delivered on a fully meshed private MPLS network.

This scalable, high performance service enables enterprises to economically extend their local area networks to support global video, voice and data transport and to securely and seamlessly send point-to-point traffic between destinations across the world.

"VSNL''s Dedicated Global Ethernet service enables Australian enterprises with flexible, scalable bandwidth to India, providing a cost effective solution to connect to their site locations there," said Thomas Tai, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, VSNL. "It also offers secure, high performance connectivity throughout the globe, capitalising on VSNL''s unique network reach and scale.

"Our offering is ideal for Australian enterprises, such as those in banking and finance, that require that their mission critical applications are supported by rigorous, industry-tested Quality of Service standards tied to strict SLAs with non-interrupting service upgrades. The service is also perfect for companies seeking to free themselves from the TDM constraints and lack of flexibility associated with International Private Line services," Tai added.

John Landau, vice president, enterprise services, VSNL, says, "According to the Australia department of foreign affairs and trade, Australia is India''s eighth largest overseas investor with over $1 billion approved for around 140 joint ventures. Indian investment in Australia is also worth around $1 billion, making Australia the ninth most important destination for Indian foreign direct investment."

Landau continued, "VSNLs dedicated global Ethernet service provides for a more cost-effective and flexible option for Australia-India connectivity, thereby improving telecom infrastructure Which is critical for further enhancing trade ties between the two countries.

Dedicated global Ethernet offers bandwidth between 2-100 megabits using a Fast-E interface and 50 - 1000 Megabits using a Gig-E interface with the flexibility to upgrade the bandwidth on an as-needed basis without service interruption.

The service is supported with a single, end-to-end Service Level Agreement and dedicated global support in every country served. Dedicated Global Ethernet is carried across the Company''s extensive global and India fibre optic infrastructure, providing unsurpassed circuit quality and capacity.