BT has been hounded by perceptions that its 21st Century Network project was staggering a bit, but in a keynote speech at Light Reading`s Ethernet Expo in London, Karl Penaluna, director of IP and data platforms at BT, painted a picture of a company loaded with new service announcements ready for launch. The company plans to launch a new family of Ethernet services next month, and later will debut 24 Mbps ADSL2+ service. By the end of the summer, BT will launch its full Web 2.0-based "Innovation Platform" for third party service developers--a direct results of its 21CN progress. And, by the end of this year, the telco will offer integrated voice and broadband over Ethernet.
However, Light Reading Europe notes in the coverage of its own conference that one thing Penaluna did not talk about was provider backbone transport, the next-generation Ethernet technology of which it has been an early advocate. According to LRE, Penaluna side-stepped questions about PBT and emphasized the number and variety of technologies BT will use. Is BT adjusting its attitude about PBT, or is it merely being a bit sheepish about promoting the technology too much after Interoute CTO Matt Finnie slammed PBT hype-meisters earlier this week at the Ethernet Expo?
