As a part of the continuing discussion of Metro Ethernet, we’re following the last newsletter’s discussion of primary drivers for implementation with the primary inhibitors for implementation. In other words, if this is a great idea, why isn’t everybody already using these services. As discussed in the previous newsletters, this information is based on a study conducted by Kubernan and available at Webtorials.

The inhibitors, by the way, assumed that the service is available. And ubiquitous service availability is far from being a reality at this juncture. However, if the service is available, the No. 1 inhibitor for users is “high prices,” cited by 38% of the respondents. (This was seen as a primary inhibitor by 29% of the service providers.) At first glance, this seems to be highly contradictory with the prior newsletter in which we noted that a lower cost for higher speed access services was a major driver. However, if one considers that this was a driver for 80% of the user respondents, vs. being an inhibitor for 38%, the percentages make a lot more sense. That is, the inhibitors are much more evenly distributed with the highest ranking inhibitor garnering 38% vs. the highest ranking driver garnering 80% of the user responses.

The next three inhibiting factors were starkly different for users and service providers. The second leading concern for users was “managing and troubleshooting,” cited by 36%, a statistical dead heat with the higher service prices. However, 48% of the service providers saw this as a major issue, making it the second overall inhibitor from their perspective.

In the next newsletter, we’ll wrap up the Metro Ethernet inhibitors with a discussion of reliability, security, and other factors.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.