With over 80,000 route miles of middle mile fiber and hundreds of points of presence, INDATEL and its partners have become an important part of the Internet infrastructure that connects the rural and urban parts of America. In the above interview, INDATEL Executive Director, Max Huffman talks about the importance and challenges of interoperability with so many disparate mid and last mile networks.

He indicates that an area of focus for INDATEL is facilitating end-to-end service assurance to create carrier-grade Ethernet services. Huffman describes, REX, a rural Ethernet exchange. He suggests that having common language and common processes between operators is critical as the connections INDATEL enable span multiple providers.

To this end, he emphasizes the importance of having staff that are certified in the technology. Purchasing MEF certified equipment is another given to ensure interoperability. He indicates that the most complicated piece is the help they provide to assure end-to-end service and testing of the circuits.

Coverage of the 2015 IP Possibilities made possible by NTCA.