MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance Completes Interoperability Testing

Twelve companies participated in an MPLS interoperability test “hot stage event” conducted last week at the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). An MPLS core was created using RSVP-TE tunnels over a variety of transport technologies. The testing included the first proving of multi-vendor interoperability of Frame Relay, ATM and Ethernet encapsulation over an MPLS core using the IETF’s PWE3 workgroup’s latest drafts. The test also included the first-ever successful multi-vendor testing of Ethernet Virtual Private LAN Services (VPLS). Several new participants in the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance tests demonstrated Fast Re-Route (FRR) and Layer 3 RFC 2547-bis VPNs for the first time. Participants included Agilent Technologies, Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Ixia, Juniper Networks, Laurel Networks, Marconi, Nortel Networks, RAD Data Communications, Riverstone Networks, TiMetra Networks and Vivace Networks. The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance is planning a similar interoperability demonstration at SUPERCOMM 2003. Masergy Communications, a service provider, will also join the SuperComm event by demonstrating a multi-service enterprise connection over an MPLS network.
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