Acronym and Definition Guide

Term Abbrev. Definition

Access EPL service uses a Point-to-Point OVC to associate one OVC End
Access Ethernet Private Line Access EPL Point at a UNI and one OVC End Point at an ENNI. One UNI can support
only a single instance of the Access EPL service.

Access Ethernet Virtual Access EVPL service uses a Point-to-Point OVC to associate one OVC End
Access EVPL Point at a UNI and one OVC End Point at an ENNI. One UNI can support
Private Line
one or more Access EVPL instances.
Access Provider AP An Operator MEN that offers the Ethernet Access Service type.
Bandwidth Profile BWP A Bandwidth Profile is a characterization of the lengths and arrival times for
Service Frames at a reference point.
Bandwidth profile per CoS
ID A bandwidth profile applied on a per-Class of Service basis.
Bandwidth profile per OVC
Endpoint A bandwidth profile applied on a per-OVC Endpoint basis.
Bandwidth profile per UNI A bandwidth profile applied on a per-UNI basis.
Bridge PDU BPDU This are the protocol messages exchanged by bridges that implement one of
the spanning tree protocols (see STP and PDU)
Broadcast Service Frame A Service Frame that has the broadcast destination MAC address.
A technique for transporting and emulating the characteristics of a TDM
Circuit Emulation Services CES service such as T1/E1, T3/E3, and SONET/SDH on an asynchronous data
network such as ATM, MPLS, or Ethernet.
Circuit Emulation Services
over Ethernet CESoETH
Performing CES over an Ethernet (or Carrier Ethernet) network.
CE-VLAN CoS ID Customer Edge VLAN CoS. Also C-tag PCP.

CE-VLAN CoS ID CE-VLAN CoS ID Value Preservation describes a relationship between the
Value Preservation (OVC) format and certain field values of the frame at one External Interface and of
the corresponding frame at another External Interface
CE-VLAN ID Customer Edge VLAN ID

CE-VLAN ID CE-VLAN ID Preservation describes a relationship between the format and

Preservation (OVC) certain field values of the frame at one External Interface and of the
corresponding frame at another External Interface
OVC End Point Map at the
UNI An association of CE-VLAN IDs with OVCs at a UNI.
CE-VLAN Tag Customer Edge VLAN Tag
Class of Service Frame Set CoS A set of Service Frames that have a commitment from the Service Provider
subject to a particular set of performance objectives.
Class of Service Identifier for The mechanism and/or values of the mechanism to be used to identify the
Service Frames (UNI) CoS Name that applies to the frame at a given UNI.

Class of Service Identifier for The mechanism and/or values of the parameters in the mechanism to be used
ENNI Frames (ENNI) to identify the CoS Name that applies to the frame at a given ENNI that maps
to an OVC End Point.
Class of Service Frame Set A set of Service or ENNI Frames that have a commitment from the Operator
or Service Provider subject to a particular set of performance objectives.
 A CoS Name that is standardized in MEF 23.1. Each CoS Label identifies
Class of Service Label four Performance Tiers where each Performance Tier contains a set of
performance objectives and associated parameters.
Class of Service Name A designation given to one or more sets of performance objectives and
associated parameters by the Service Provider or Operator.
CM is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. The Color Mode parameter indicates
Color Mode CM whether the color-aware or color-blind property is employed by the
Bandwidth Profile. It takes a value of “color-blind” or “color-aware” only.
A Bandwidth Profile property where a pre-determined level of Bandwidth
Color-aware Profile compliance for each Service or ENNI Frame is taken into account
when determining the level of compliance for each Service Frame.
A Bandwidth Profile property where a pre-determined level of Bandwidth
Color-blind Profile compliance for each Service Frame, if present, is ignored when
determining the level of compliance for each Service Frame.

The mechanism and/or values of the parameters in the mechanism used to

identify the Color that applies to the frame at a given UNI. A particular Color
Color Identifier for Service ID value may indicate Color instance of Green or Yellow for a Service
Frame (UNI) Frame. PCP and DSCP may indicate both CoS Name and Color. Information
derivable from a) a set of one or more C-Tag PCP values or b) a set of one or
more DSCP values.

The mechanism and/or values of the parameters in the mechanism used to

identify the Color that applies to the frame at a given ENNI that maps to an
Color Identifier for ENNI OVC End Point. A particular Color ID value may indicate Color instance of
Frames (ENNI) Green or Yellow for an ENNI Frame. PCP may indicate both CoS Name and
Color. Information derivable from a) a set of one or more S-Tag PCP values
or b) DEI value.
CBS is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. It limits the maximum number of
Committed Burst Size CBS bytes available for a burst of Frames sent at the EI speed to remain CIR-
conformant.
CIR is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. It defines the average rate in bits/s of
Committed Information Rate CIR Frames at an EI up to which the network delivers Frames, and is committed
to meeting the performance objectives defined by the CoS Service Attribute.
CF is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. The Coupling Flag allows the choice
Coupling Flag CF between two modes of operation of the rate enforcement algorithm. It takes a
value of 0 or 1 only.
Customer Edge CE Equipment on the Subscriber side of the UNI.
Customer Edge VLAN CoS The Priority Code Point bits in the IEEE 802.1Q Customer VLAN Tag in a
Service Frame that is either tagged or priority tagged.
Customer Edge VLAN ID The identifier derivable from the content of a Service Frame that allows the
Service Frame to be associated with an EVC at the UNI.
Discard Eligibility Indicator DEI A bit in the CE-VLAN and S-VLAN tags that can be used to indicate that a
frame has been colored yellow by a Bandwidth Profile.
An international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of
Data Over Cable Service high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV (CATV) system. It is
DOCSIS
Interface Specification employed by many cable television operators to provide Internet access over
their existing hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) infrastructure.
In traditional data communications the data processing (computer) equipment
that terminates a communication path is the DTE. Traditionally, the DTE
connects to the transmission channel through a Data Communications
Data Terminal Equipment DTE Equipment (DCE). A modem was a DCE. With Ethernet, the DTE connects
directly to the channel and therefore there is no DCE, communication is DTE
to DTE.
E-Access Service Type Ethernet services that use an OVC with at least one UNI OVC End Point and
one ENNI OVC End Point.
Egress Bandwidth Profile A service attribute that specifies the length and arrival time characteristics of
egress Frames at the egress EI.
Egress Service Frame A Service Frame sent from within a MEN to an EI.
E-LAN Service An Ethernet service type that is based on a Multipoint-to- Multipoint EVC.
E-Line Service An Ethernet service type that is based on a Point-to-Point EVC.
EPL Ethernet Private Line
External Network-to-Network Interface - A reference point representing the
ENNI boundary between two Operator MENs that are operated as separate
administrative domains
ENNI Frame The first bit of the Destination Address to the last bit of the Frame Check
Sequence of the Ethernet Frame transmitted across the ENNI
ENNI MTU MTU of an ENNI frame at the ENNI
E-Tree Service An Ethernet service type that is based on a Rooted-Multipoint EVC.
Ethernet Access Provider Operator of the MEN providing the OVC-based Ethernet service between a
UNI and an ENNI.
Ethernet Virtual Connection EVC An association of two or more UNIs that limits the exchange of Service
Frames to UNIs in the Ethernet Virtual Connection.
EVC MTU Size The maximum sized Service Frame allowed for an EVC.
EVPL Ethernet Virtual Private Line
EBS is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. It limits the maximum number of
Excess Burst Size EBS bytes available for a burst of Frames sent at the EI speed to remain EIR-
conformant.
EIR is a Bandwidth Profile parameter. It defines the average rate in bits/s of
Excess Information Rate EIR Frames up to which the network may deliver Frames but without any
performance objectives.
External Interface EI Either a UNI or an ENNI
Frame Short for Ethernet Frame
Frame Delay FD The time elapsed from the reception of the first bit of the ingress frame at EI1
until the transmission of the last bit of the corresponding egress frame at EI2 .

Frame Delay Range FDR The difference between the observed percentile of delay at a target percentile
and the observed minimum delay for the set of frames in interval T.
Frame Delay Performance A measure of the delays experienced by different Service or ENNI Frames
belonging to the same CoS Frame Set.
Frame Delay Range A measure of the extent of delay variability experienced by different Service
Performance or ENNI Frames belonging to the same CoS Frame Set.

Frame Loss Ratio Frame Loss Ratio is a measure of the number of lost frames between the
FLR ingress EI1 and the egress EI2 . Frame Loss Ratio is expressed as a
Performance
percentage.
A characterization of ingress Frame arrival times and lengths at the ingress EI
Ingress Bandwidth Profile and a specification of disposition of each Frame based on its level of
compliance with the characterization.
Ingress Service Frame A Service Frame sent from an EI into the Service Provider network.
Inter-Frame Delay Variation IFDV The difference in delay of two Service or ENNI Frames belonging to the
same CoS Frame Set.
Inter-Frame Delay Variation A measure of the variation in the delays experienced by different Service or
Performance ENNI Frames belonging to the same CoS Frame Set.
Layer 2 Control Protocol L2CP A Service Frame that is used for Layer 2 control, e.g., Spanning Tree
Service Frame Frame Protocol.
Layer 2 Control Protocol The process by which a Layer 2 Control Protocol Service Frame is passed
Tunneling through the Service Provider network without being processed and is
delivered unchanged to the proper UNI(s).
A sublayer of the Datalink Layer (layer 2 in the ISO Model). For Ethernet,
the MAC layer includes the definition of the Ethernet frame structure, the
Media Access Control MAC format for Ethernet station address (known as MAC addresses), and the
channel access protocol (CSMA/CD).
Maximum Number of OVCs
per UNI The maximum number of OVCs that may be on a UNI.
An integer that indicates the quantity of CE-VLANs that can be mapped to a
Maximum Number of CE- single OVC at that UNI. A value = 1 indicates that UNI can only map single
VLAN IDs per OVC CE-VLANs to an OVC. A value > 1 indicates that up to that limit can be
mapped to a single OVC.
Mean Frame Delay The arithmetic mean, or average of delays experienced by different Service or
MFD
Performance ENNI Frames belonging to the same CoS Frame Set.
MEN Metro Ethernet Network
Metro Ethernet Network MEN The Service Provider’s network providing Ethernet services.
Maximum Transmission
MTU The maximum sized Service Frame allowed for an Ethernet service.
Unit
Multicast Service Frame A Service Frame that has a multicast destination MAC address.

Multipoint-to- Multipoint An EVC with two or more UNIs. A Multipoint-to-Multipoint EVC with two
EVC UNIs is different from a Point-to-Point EVC because one or more additional
UNIs can be added to it.
Multi-System Operator MSO An operator of multiple cable or direct-broadcast satellite television systems.
Operator Virtual Connection OVC
Operator Virtual Connection, an association of OVC End Points
OVC End Point OEP An association of an OVC with a specific External Interface i.e., UNI, ENNI
OVC Identifier string that is unique among all OVCs in the Operator MEN
N/A Not Applicable
N/S Not Specified

Information that is delivered as a unit among peer entities of a network and

that may contain control information, such as address information, or user
Protocol Data Unit PDU data (from Wikipedia). A PDU is the "message" that is exchanged between
peer entities in a network. For example, spanning tree bridges exchange
BPDUs.
Point-to-Point EVC An EVC with exactly 2 UNIs.
A multipoint EVC in which each UNI is designated as either a Root or a
Rooted-Multipoint EVC Leaf. Ingress Service Frames at a Root UNI can be delivered to one or more
of any of the other UNIs in the EVC. Ingress Service Frames at a Leaf UNI
can only be delivered to one or more Root UNIs in the EVC.
Service Frame An Ethernet frame transmitted across the UNI toward the Service Provider or
an Ethernet frame transmitted across the UNI toward the Subscriber.
The contract between the Subscriber or Operator and Service Provider
Service Level Agreement SLA specifying the agreed to service level commitments and related business
agreements.
Service Level Specification SLS The technical specification of the service level being offered by the Service
Provider to the Subscriber or Operator.
Service Multiplexing A UNI service attribute in which the UNI can be in more than one EVC
instance.
Service Provider SP The organization providing UNI to UNI Ethernet Service(s).
Any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating,
Standards Developing promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise
SDO
Organization producing technical standards that are intended to address the needs of some
relatively wide base of affected adopters. (source: Wikipedia)
 A protocol, originally specified in IEEE Std 802.1D to detect and disable
Spanning Tree Protocol STP loops in a bridged layer 2 (MAC-layer) network. STP also refers generically
to the derivative protocols of the original Spanning Tree Protocol, RSTP, the
Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol specified in the current revision of 802.1D and
MSTP, the Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol, defined in IEEE Std 802.1Q.
Subscriber The organization purchasing and/or using Ethernet Services.
S-Tag Service VLAN Tag.
S-VLAN ID The 12 bit VLAN ID field in the S-Tag of an ENNI Frame

An optional field in a frame header. In this document it is the 4- byte field

that, when present in an Ethernet frame, appears immediately after the Source
Tag
Address, or another tag in an Ethernet frame header and which consists of the
2-byte Tag Protocol Identification Field (TPID) which indicates S-Tag or C-
Tag, and the 2-byte Tag Control Information field (TCI) which contains the
3-bit Priority Code Point, and the 12-bit VLAN ID field
UNI MTU Size The maximum sized Service Frame allowed at the UNI.
Unicast Service Frame A Service Frame that has a unicast destination MAC address.
User Network Interface UNI The physical demarcation point between the responsibility of the Service
Provider and the responsibility of the Subscriber.
VLAN Virtual LAN

Reproduced with permission of the Metro Ethernet Forum.