MPLS-TP Leads In Transport Where T-MPLS Fell Short

BY SULTAN DAWOOD, VP OF MARKETING, IP/MPLS FORUM

I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a quick update on some recent activities surrounding the MPLS technology.

First and foremost, T-MPLS (aka Transport-MPLS), a connection-oriented packet standard, that was being formulated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) specifically for application in transport networks has ceased and is no longer being considered. After considerable debate and controversy related to possible interoperability issues with the widely deployed MPLS networks, a new Joint Working Team (JWT) has been formed consisting of members from both the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ITU-T to work on extending the current IETF defined MPLS functionality and to develop a new Transport Profile for MPLS which will be referred to as "MPLS-TP".

The "MPLS-TP" will use the current existing MPLS data/forwarding plane architecture while allowing service providers to statically provision Label Switch Paths (LSPs) or tunnels, use traditional protection schemes like 1:1, 1+1 and ring topologies and transport-centric Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) tools that line up with established architectures and support Performance Monitoring (PM) and Fault, Configuration, Accounting and Performance (FCAP) management.

While "MPLS-TP" will not initially use a control plane and will rely on an external management plane, the fact that this profile is based on the traditional MPLS architecture will allow service providers in the future to expand their capabilities and interoperate with the traditional MPLS-based networks which use an integrated control plane.

This change in direction with respect to the T-MPLS standard and the initiation of "MPLS-TP" is a good endorsement for IP/MPLS as a mature and proven technology. "MPLS-TP" allows service providers to extend MPLS from the existing Core and Edge into the Access portion of the network without re-inventing the wheel. MPLS has come a long way over the last decade and while it has still some further refining and improvements associated with it, it is a proven technology. Please feel free to access the ITU site that highlights the ITU-T’s announcement with respect to the "MPLS-TP".

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Vancouver Summer 2008 Member Meeting

The IP/MPLS Forum met in Vancouver, BC June 23-26, 2008 for its Summer 2008 member meeting. More than 25 delegates attended the three and a half day meeting, representing 15 of the industry's leading companies. The meeting was extremely successful with much progress being made on a number of work items. Significant progress was made in the Forum's mobile backhaul work and we expect the Framework and Reference Architecture for MPLS in Mobile Backhaul Networks Technical Specification document to proceed to final ballot in the second half of 2008. Progress was also made in the Certification Working Group where the MFA 12 Certification Test Suite was approved for straw ballot.

The meeting also saw some key changes for the Forum. The membership approved name changes to the various technical working groups. The Applications & Deployment Working Group will henceforth be called the Deployment Working Group. Additionally the Interworking & Frame Relay Working Group will now be known as the Applications Working Group. The names and charters now reflect the current focus and work of these two working groups.

The Forum will next meet in Beijing, China from September 22-25, 2008. All principal members are encouraged to attend member meetings. For more information please visit the IP/MPLS Forum website.

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Mobile operators are rapidly deploying new, higher speed 3G and 4G data and multimedia services while simultaneously having to continue to support established 2G and 2.5G voice and lower speed data services. Increased bandwidth demands and pressure on the cost of backhaul are driving them to consider Ethernet as a common transport technology in the radio access network (RAN).

The IP/MPLS Forum is developing a framework and set of requirements for the use of MPLS to enable a consolidated backhaul network, enabling operators to leverage the economies of Ethernet while simultaneously support all of the current and future mobile services. MPLS supports the transport of a wide range of layer 1, 2 and 3 services, including TDM, ATM, HDLC and IP, over almost any underlying transport. It is thus able to support the migration from centralized mobile networks like 2G and 3G to flat mobile networks like HSPA+ flat, LTE and mobile WiMAX, using technologies such as pseudowires, VPLS and layer 3 VPNs. MPLS resiliency and traffic engineering can be used to ensure that expectations on the reliability and QoS of mobile services can be met.

The IP/MPLS Forum Framework and Requirements Technical Specification is currently in straw ballot (the first stage of approval), while further detailed technical specifications for each mobile service are under development. The Forum also has a half day tutorial on MPLS in mobile backhaul, which has been presented at a number of industry events during 2008.

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The IP/MPLS Forum has developed the MPLS InterCarrier Interconnect (MPLS-ICI) Specification with contributors from the carrier and equipment vendor space. The MPLS-ICI specification provides guidelines for operators to extend carrier-class MPLS-based services across multiple carriers, and requirements for equipments vendors to facilitate the rollout of such services. Carrier-class services entail the four tenets: (1) Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM), (2) Quality of Service (QoS), (3) resiliency, (4) scalability. Inter-carrier services specifically add the two tenets of security and confidentiality.

The IP/MPLS Forum MPLS-ICI specification builds on existing standards from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It does not define new protocols, but groups together the key features needed to implement each of the MPLS services considered and provides the requirements for equipment implementation, as well as usage guidelines. MPLS-ICI addresses four keys services: (1) Multi-AS Backbone BGP/MPLS IPv4 Virtual Private Networks (IPVPNs), (2) MPLS Pseudowires (PWs) for the extension of Layer2 (e.g., Ethernet, FR) and Layer1 services over MPLS, (3) BGP-based MPLS tunneling for establishing tunnels for IP and other services across provider domains, (4) Interdomain Traffic Engineering Tunnels for applications that require traffic engineering capabilities, including bandwidth reservation and fast reroute around failures. MPLS-ICI enables the extension of these services across multiple carrier networks, leveraging existing protocols.

The MPLS-ICI specification is a first step taken by the IP/MPLS Forum to focus on the advancement of intercarrier and global MPLS-based services, addressing issues found in earlier deployments. These services include transport services as well as end-user services.

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