sources between a number of customers, allowing an increase in network efficiency. This is referred to as an Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL) (ITU-T G.8011.2, 2005a). A consequence of sharing is that in the event of con- gestion, frames might be dropped. Multipoint EVCs offer an E-LAN service, in MEF terminology, or an Ethernet Private LAN (EPLAN), where a resource is dedicated, and an Ethernet Virtual Private LAN (EVPLAN) for shared resource, in ITU-T terminology. The main issues that are of concern in providing such services are how to specify the bandwidth of the service (in the worst case all traffic is simultaneously directed to a single UNI, and designing to manage this bandwidth would result in an inefficient solution), how protection will be provided, discard policy under congestion, and the amount of buffering that should be provided. Operations, Administration, and Maintenance The EVPLAN is the most complex service to manage, and this has to be balanced against the efficiency gains obtained from sharing transport and switching infrastructure between customers. The main issues in providing such a service are similar to those of an EPLAN but are magnified by the sharing of resources between customers. For each of the service types described, the service can be described by means of a number of parameters, including Connectivity (e.g., point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, multipoint-to-multipoint) and the list of UNIs associated with the EVC Transfer characteristics of the EVC, including what addresses can be delivered, drop precedence, and class of service Bandwidth profile, including committed information rate and committed burst size Connectivity monitoring (e.g., none, on demand, or proactive) Whether preservation of a customer's VLAN ID allocation and class of service markings is provided Survivability Operations, Administration, and Maintenance As part of providing a service level agreement, it is necessary to be able to monitor the service SO that it can be verified that the agreement is being m