The MPLS WG Archive

[Irwin Lazar <ILazar@tbg.com>]

> This is actually an excellent question that should not be 
> dismissed lightly
> by the readers of this list.  Like Sprint, people here in BT 
> ask the same
> question.  It's no good pointing to the *technical* 
> advantages of MPLS (see
> Note).....you have to address the *cost* issues for 
> operators.  That is, if
> you can't show that implementing MPLS will either reduce 
> operational costs
> (which BTW is perhaps the most critical issue) and/or 
> increase revenues then
> I am afraid that those who control the purse strings in 
> operators won't buy
> it.  So you are right, it is as simple as that.
> 
> Note:  Who is the user? is a key question here.

Here are a couple of scenarios where MPLS-based VPN services offer
tremendous advantage (IMHO):

- An enterprise wishing to connect their sites via any L2 mechanism with
guaranteed performance levels.  For example, take a site with a 100MB
Ethernet connection to a service provider, and allow it to establish a
private link to another site that has an ATM OC-3 to the same provider.  For
further complexity, assume both sites are using private IP addressing.

- A medium size enterprise wishing to build a fully meshed network without
having to configure dozens of PVCs at each end point.

- An ISP that wants to offer private line transport services over its
existing infrastructure as a value-ad service.  They want to be able to
offer this private line option over a variety of L2 transport mechanisms so
that they aren't reliant on ATM.

Irwin