High-speed Fast Ethernet technologies are beginning to challenge SONET and frame relay for dominance in Ethernet-based metropolitan area networks.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

High-speed Fast Ethernet technologies are not directly challenging SONET and frame relay for dominance in Ethernet-based metropolitan area networks because SONET and frame relay serve different purposes and layers in network infrastructure. Ethernet technologies are primarily used for local area networks (LANs) and have been extended for metropolitan area networks (MANs) and wide area networks (WANs) applications, while SONET (Synchronous Optical Networking) and frame relay are more established in the backbone and long-distance carrier networks, offering high reliability and guaranteed bandwidth for data transmission. Ethernet technologies, including Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and beyond, are indeed expanding in scope but are complementary to, rather than directly competitive with, SONET and frame relay in many network architectures.

High-Speed Fast Ethernet Technologies Are Beginning to Challenge SONET and Frame