metropolitan area networks. Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) are becoming a viable communication infrastructure to more and more enterprises as the cost of fibre and Gigabit Ethernet continues to fall.

However, these high speed, high availability networks require optical connectivity, which typically results in significant last mile charges. As our ‘virtual network’ MAN service is supported by numerous carriers and fibre network operators, we are likely to have connectivity wherever you need it most.

As you would expect, our MAN offering is a flexible, resilient, cost effective Layer 1 or 2 service providing connectivity between two or more locations from 2Mbps to 10Gbps and beyond.

Azzurri's MAN service can be delivered in three variations:

• Point to Point: transparent Ethernet connection between any two locations allowing extension of the LAN between sites
• Point to Multipoint: transparent Ethernet connections from a hub site to multiple spoke sites
• Bespoke: these solutions involve fibre ‘digs’ into your premises and managed hardware to support any 2.5Gbps optical protocol requirements.

The service offers the following key benefits:

• Scalability: delivering bandwidth upgrades in days rather than weeks
• Multi-carrier resilience: supporting true diversity by making use of more than one carrier
• Secure data delivery at Layer 1/2: incapable of being compromised by other networks
• Technology upgrade path: replace high cost SDH connections with Ethernet Multi-Service Access Pipes (MSAP) that deliver multiple services
• Lower total cost of ownership: many MAN solutions can be purchased as business assets over extended periods of time, significantly reducing the actual costs of bandwidth.