MPLS-Enabled Applications: Emerging Developments and New Technologies

1.2. CURRENT TRENDS

At the time of writing this book, the most widely deployed customer-visible MPLS service is the Layer 3 VPN (also known as an IP VPN or 2547bis VPN, after the IETF document describing them). MPLS is also used in some networks as an infrastructure tool to provide traffic engineering and fast-reroute capabilities. Another rapidly growing application is point-to-point Layer 2 transport, either as means of carrying a customer's Ethernet traffic across the wide area or as a component of ATM or Frame Relay Service emulation. Finally, Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) offerings, in which the service provider gives the impression to the customer that their sites are attached to the same Local Area Network (LAN), are also becoming available.

Many service providers are investigating the possibility of using an MPLS-based network to provide a common platform for a wide range of services that are currently typically delivered over multiple distinct networks. Such a multiservice network might carry Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) traffic, public Internet and private IP data services, Layer 2 ATM and Frame Relay services, Broadcast TV and TDM traffic. This offers capital and operational cost savings to the network operators by allowing them to operate a single network rather than a separate network for each service type. A key aim of this book is to show how MPLS can provide the necessary mechanisms for this network convergence, e.g. through the use of DiffServ ...