Comcast (News - Alert) Corporation announced that it is the first service provider in the world to offer Carrier Ethernet 2.0 (CE 2.0), certified through the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF (News - Alert)) for E-Line and E-LAN services, Comcast announced in a statement recently.

The CE 2.0 certification will allow businesses to see better service, easier management access and be able to work across multiple networks.

“A milestone was reached this year when for the first time Carrier Ethernet services share of bandwidth exceeded the sum total of all legacy telecom services across the world, with Frost & Sullivan, Vertical Systems and Infonetics (News - Alert) predicting a near $48 billion services market by 2015,” said Nan Chen, president of MEF. “We are therefore very pleased to see that Comcast has achieved the latest milestone in our industry—becoming the first CE 2.0 service provider.”

The MEF authorized the certification after compliance testing by Iometrix (News - Alert). Comcast Business Class Ethernet Private Line and Comcast Business Class Ethernet Virtual Private Line are CE 2.0 E-Line services, while Comcast Business Class Ethernet Network Service is a CE 2.0 E-LAN service.

The services are delivered via next-generation IP networks across 39 states in America.

“From major healthcare groups to regional banks and organizations connecting to data centers, a wide range of mid-market and enterprise customers are turning to Comcast’s Ethernet services based on our extensive network reach and service availability, true network diversity and continued investment in advanced network technologies,” said Mike Tighe, Executive Director of Data Services at Comcast Business Services.

Comcast has a 100 Gbps backbone and fiber connections into multiple markets, as well as Ethernet over HFC. All of Comcast’s hardware suppliers are CE 2.0-certified as well.

Comcast Business Services was also the first provider to offer the three previous CE 1.0 certifications: MEF 9, 14 and 18. The company served on the MEF Board of Directors in 2008.