With the increase in the demand for mobile backhaul and leased-line replacement services, carrier ethernet services have also been in increasing demand. Networking equipment vendors are trying to keep up with the demands for equipment, and generally do pretty well, but what has had a bit of difficulty keeping pace is the capabilities of the management systems needed to provision Carrier Ethernet services and configure networking devices.

It's quite a challenge, and there's a good free webinar coming up Thursday, March 31, at 1:00 p.m.on the East Coast and 10:00 a.m. out on the West Coast, titled "Automated Service Activation – New Management Challenge for Carrier Ethernet Equipment Vendors," which is designed to address the issue.

One reason for the difficulty is that the provisioning and activation of Carrier Ethernet services, as webinar officials note, "requires multiple configuration changes – both in terms of number of boxes touched and parameters configured per box." Add to that the fact that the frequency of changes is high as services are often turned up and torn down, and temporary increases in bandwidth are changed on the fly, and you can get an idea of the complexity involved.

"Service providers are expecting their suppliers of networking equipment to deliver automated configuration management systems that can provision services quickly and accurately," webinar officials note, saying that even as network equipment providers try to meet these requirements they're also trying to bring new products to market "in less time and with reduced development costs." You see the problem.

Presenting will be Carl Moberg, who has held multiple positions at Tail-f Systems (News - Alert) including VP of engineering, COO, and VP of marketing. According to his biographical information "he has been actively involved with the company’s product strategy and works closely with Tail-f’s customers as they design and build new management applications."