LAN Ethernet   LAN Ethernet is a high-speed LAN (Local Area Network) connection service that is becoming a popular alternative to Frame Relay. The service simplifies WAN (Wide Area Network) technology, design and management. With LAN Ethernet service, a service provider interconnects a company's LANs so that they all appear to be interconnected by a LAN segment. Employees hundreds of kilometers apart—even in different countries—can thus communicate with each other and access remote servers as easily as if all of the employees and servers were located in the same building. Because LAN Ethernet is a protocol-independent service, it works with existing LAN environments and equipment. It is not restricted to routed IP only and this can remove the need for the encapsulating of other protocols into IP when transmitting across the WAN; all LAN protocols can continue to run in their native form across the WAN. It is therefore simple to set up and helps to minimize both capital-investment and operational costs. NTT Communications (NTT Com) launched the world's first global-scale LAN Ethernet service (spanning 54 countries) in February 2002. The service connects easily to Japanese domestic LAN Ethernet services and includes Ethernet switch rental and co-location for the construction of global intranets, as well as high-quality broadband closed network communications at 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps. The service is particularly well suited to multinational corporations that require enhanced broadband connectivity.