In an article, “Synchronous ethernet: a method to transport synchronization“, by Ferrant, J.-L.; Gilson, M.; Jobert, S.; Mayer, M.; Ouellette, M.; Montini, L.; Rodrigues, S.; Ruffini, S.
published in Communications Magazine, IEEE, Vol. 46, Issue 9, September 2008, the authors discuss the evolving transport architecture, covering some of the synchronization distribution problems to many endpoints where mobile backhaul and TDM emulation occur.
From this article, it would appear that synchronous Ethernet suits both the Ethernet and synchronization architectures, which has partially enabled development in standardization bodies.
Further development in Synchronous Ethernet standards is being directed at enabling interworking with and migration from existing SONET/SDH-based transport infrastructure.
From research reports and comments appearing in a number of places, it appears that Synchronous Ethernet will not be subject to the normal packet delay variation and traffic load conditions that can occur in packet based networks. Research results are being made available which show that Synchronous Ethernet can achieve a very high level of performance, which will lead to highly robust system implementations. It is intended to summarize some publicized research results in later posts. Any reports or information relating to further research outcomes relating to Synchronous Ethernet would be welcome.