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Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) brings the speed of Layer
2 switching to Layer 3. It allows routers to eliminate the complex
lookup process based on the destination IP address, and make forwarding
decisions based on the contents of a simple label. In addition to
speed, MPLS offers two key advantages: it supports Quality of Service
(QoS) and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
An MPLS network permits the definition of explicit paths, which
are predefined routes through networks. MPLS routes packets along
these pre-configured paths, called Label Switched Paths (LSPs).
Standard routing protocols, such as OSPF (Open Shortest Path First)
and BGP (Border Gateway Patrol), determine these routes in advance,
and then build tables that define the routes in each router. Each
packet carries a label that indicates which exact route it should
follow. In addition to supporting paths determined by OSPF and BGP,
MPLS supports paths defined by a variety of constraints, including,
but not limited to available bandwidth, packets' priority settings,
and the policy-based server's directives. In this way, MPLS supports
QoS by constraint-based routing.
IPNET, Interpeak's TCP/IP stack, can support the extensive requirements
of large-scale RFC 2547 VPN deployments: the number of forwarding
tables is virtually unlimited and the tables support private overlapping
addresses. RFC 2547 guidelines may be applied to both IPv4 and IPv6
MPLS deployments. As carriers build more IPv6 networks, developers
can continue to use the dual-mode IPv4/IPv6 stack. IPNET is a future-proof
routing stack, a true dual-mode IPv4/IPv6 stack which supports numerous
IPv4/IPv4 transition mechanisms.
Interpeak MPLS is pre-integrated with commercial MPLS control plane
products, and runs on Linux, VxWorks, Integrity, OSE, etc. The MPLS
product is delivered in ANSI compliant C source code, with ready-to-run
RTOS integration containing makefiles etc.
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