Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), which is part of the Tata Group, today launched a 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 cost effectively connect with 120 cities in India plus 20 major business destinations throughout Asia, Europe and North America.

This follows VSNL's recent announcement as the first global Ethernet provider to have achieved 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 MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductors vendors and testing organizations.

VSNL's Dedicated Global Ethernet Service employs an Ethernet over SDH/SONET platform to ensure low latency and jitter, and high reliability.

This scalabl 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-topoint traffic between destinations across the world.

The offering 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.

The company's Asia Pacific VP, Thomas Tai, said the offering is ideal for the banking and finance sector, which support mission critical applications that require 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," he said.

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.

VSNL vice president of enterprise services, John Landau, said on the reverse side of the equation IIndian investment in Australia is also worth around $1 billion, making Australia the ninth most important destination for Indian foreign direct investment.

"This service is a cost-effective and flexible option for Australia-India connectivity, thereby improving telecoms infrastructure which is critical for further enhancing trade ties between the two countries," he added.

Global Ethernet offers bandwidth between 2-100 Megabits using a Fast-E interface and 50 - 1,000 Megabits using a Gig-E interface with the flexibility to upgrade the bandwidth on an as-needed basis without service interruption.

The company will go head to head with Verizon Business which launched its offering in the Australian market earlier this year.

VSNL is part of the Tata Group, a communications company offering next-generation voice, data and value-added services to enterprises, carriers and retail consumers.

VSNL customer base includes 1500 carriers, 450 mobile operators, 10,000 enterprises, 500,000 Broadband and Internet subscribers and 300 Wi-Fi public hotspots, across 35 countries.