The movement towards IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology or “everything over Internet Protocol” is gaining pace. IT Week talked to Trevor Dearing, enterprise solutions marketing manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Juniper Networks, about the development of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology to support this trend.

IT Week: Can you describe the current state of standards for MPLS?

Trevor Dearing: The Internet Engineering Task Force [IETF] has an MPLS Working Group which lists current MPLS standards, most of which are in the “Internet Draft” phase. These standards need to be considered in the context of how the IETF works. Basically, there is no such thing as a single MPLS standard, but a set of RFCs [requests for comments] and identities to which manufacturers have always complied to enable customers to build reliable, secure networks.

How should IT managers justify spending on MPLS systems?

It’s all to do with what the business is doing. If you’re deploying web-based applications, like storage management, CCTV, VoIP, etc, MPLS gives more granularity of control, more resilience, and the recovery time from link failure is faster. In the long run, it is better, since though the up-front capital cost is high, your apps will perform better.

Who is deploying MPLS?

Government departments are interested in MPLS for virtualising traffic. For instance, the police can [use MPLS to] create a wireless virtual LAN [VLAN], a secret VLAN and also a network for running day-to-day operations. Large enterprises are interested in this approach since it could save a lot of money if they need less physical infrastructure. For instance, a bank having separate investment and retail arms, and hence separate physical networks, would save money if they could virtualise them and run them on the same hardware.

What hardware supports MPLS?

A big chunk of recent routing products will support MPLS but it’s how good the hardware and software is that determines MPLS quality. Almost every service provider’s networks uses different vendors’ products, so there could be a Cisco/Juniper mix in there, but it does come down to what you’re actually trying to do. MPLS has made things a lot easier than what went before, but it’s still not trivial [to deploy]. For instance, you have the option for third-party carriers or service providers to manage your routers – some banks buy the routers and have them managed. The alternative is to go DIY by turning MPLS on and configuring it to create multiple routes. Of course, if you build it yourself you have a lot more control.

What will come after MPLS?

There is nothing on the horizon to replace MPLS and in fact there are many enhancements to MPLS planned. None of these will fundamentally change the way MPLS works but they will simplify integration between networks and the interworking of applications with MPLS. The mapping of applications to QoS [quality of service], currently achieved by configuration, will be more dynamic in the future.