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MPLS-TP
TECHNICAL ARTICLE
With the ever growing demand for bandwidth
primarily being driven by the wireless-mobile
market, the communication equipment suppliers are
on a quest to transform the existing cell-based grid into
more scalable and efficient packet-based networks—
particularly transport. The legacy TDM (i.e., SONET/
SDH) has been known for its reliability and manageability.
These are the current bench marks for packet-based
technology. Today with 40GE/100GE standardized,
Ethernet is seen as the most cost-effective and scalable
architecture for deploying packet-based networks. The
key advantage which one achieves from packet-based
networks is statistical multiplexing, whereby multiple
client information is a single stream of data traffic.
As there is more deployment of packet-based services,
carrier operators are looking to reduce CAPEX spending
and provide scalable solutions. Multi-Protocol Label
Switching–Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) is emerging
as a new technology, which is being developed by The
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) to provide a
reliable transport infrastructure for any type of client or
aggregate multiple clients. The objective of MPLS-TP
Emerging Technology
for Packet
Transport Network
Rishi Chugh
Sr. Manager, Product Marketing
is to provide service providers with a reliable packetbased
technology that is based upon circuit-based
transport networking, and thus is expected to align
with current organizational processes and large-scale
work procedures similar to other packet transport
technologies. These key objectives to meet the demands
of transport networks are shown in Figure 1.
Objective
MPLS-TP provides a common platform for providing
reliable transport solutions for packet and TDM services
over optical networks, thereby leveraging the widely
deployed MPLS technology. In order to ensure the
successful deployment of this platform, it is necessary
to define and support implementation of OAM and
resiliency features associated with tradition MPLS
stack. These are essential features for carrier transport
–performance monitoring, multi-domain, protection,
scalable operations. MPLS-TP is being deployed in entire
OTN network food chain, where larger ODU payloads
are being transported. Vendors today are architecting
their solutions to handle more finely grained units of
traffic, carried over the OTN via MPLS.
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE