At its Dallas quarterly meeting, the forum also moved six technical documents to final balloting. On the ballot are service models, services definitions, user network interface (UNI), Ethernet management and protection requirements along with a protection implementation agreement.

Three technical drafts were accepted this week, which will be moved to straw ballot, covering service models, UNI framework and Ethernet multiplexing functions.

Bob Mott of Nortel Networks Inc.'s optical Ethernet solutions management group and marketing co-chair for the forum's collateral committee, said even though technical documents do not bear the weight of true IEEE standards, completting as many as possible is a key to attracting second-tier service providers and enterprise customers to the forum.

Mott said OEMs or carriers can look at the attributes defined in a document, decide which optional attributes to implement and differentiate their products accordingly.

During the Dallas meeting, Verizon Communications and Rockefeller Group Telecommunications Services joined the forum, beefing up the role carriers are playing in forum. BellSouth, SBC Communications and France Telecom already have positions on the forum's board directors.

Mott said the next goal will be to recruit service providers in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China, where interest in metropolitan Ethernet service has been high.