MPLS
I learned that networks deployed with MPLS achieve better reliability along with increased performance. MPLS, used specifically as a WAN connection, is commonly part of a VPN and Intranet solution for a business. Traffic engineering and “out-of-band” control allow IT personnel to customize their network for voice, data, or video (this customizing is referring to Class and Quality of Service). I learned some of this within ICS620 and a bit on my own, too.
One of my topical briefs I composed made me think of a few questions and look further into the technology. I am not sure how long it has been around, but it sounds like a viable options for many large networks.
The research suggests that ATM’s small cell size is less efficient than MPLS because of the network cores’ tremendous capacity. I think that this difference between ATM and MPLS is very true regarding encapsulation and fragmentation. Another benefit I see with MPLS: just as packet-switched networks are fault tolerant concerning a single point of failure, MPLS is the same way because a MPLS connection is uni-directional, meaning data will flow to and from along different paths.
As mentioned earlier, MPLS is capable of having SONET and Ethernet frames moving on top of it. This leads to a related question: MPLS is often talked about being provisioned by the telephone companies (telcos), but can it be deployed by other media companies such as cable providers offering Internet services (at least on their stretch of the network)? I have never heard of MPLS used across anything other than a telco’s wire. Just recently, MPLS was used across DSL. Is MPLS limited to telcos? If yes, is it because of policies (agreements between telcos and cable companies), money (infrastructure investment), or physics (signal constraints and limits)? Does Comcast deploy this across their networks?