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EANTC Tests MPLS-TP Interop

March 16, 2011 |

BERLIN -- The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) announced the completion of its MPLS and Ethernet World Congress 2011 Public Interoperability Event. One of the key objectives was to validate vendor interoperability for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) packet transport standard, known as the Transport Profile for MPLS (MPLS-TP) and the interworking between MPLS-TP and IP/MPLS implementations. At the event, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Hitachi, Ixia, and Metaswitch showcased MPLS-TP technology. This was a critical technology demonstration for service providers as they consider migration to packet transport networks.

At this test event, EANTC focused on the IETF's recently progressed draft standards related to the operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) for MPLS-TP; they are based on existing IP/MPLS specifications and designed by the IETF as a migration solution for legacy service provider transport networks. According to the vendors participating in this test, the upcoming MPLS-TP standards promise to enable interoperable solutions, compatible with their existing IP/MPLS networks while minimizing operational expenses. Having a standards-based solution maintains an open network environment versus any proprietary solution.

The EANTC test focused on multiple aspects of the MPLS-TP standard set, including:

  • Verification of statically provisioned Label Switched Paths (LSP) with protection switching

  • Ethernet services over statically provisioned Pseudowires (PW)

  • OAM including Bi-Directional Forwarding Detection (BFD) adapted for MPLS-TP

  • Connectivity check (CC) and LSP ping for on-demand Connection Verification (CV)

  • PW status notification and interworking with IP/MPLS

    The inclusion of MPLS-TP network management testing was an important addition. The MPLS-TP control plane requires end-to-end service activation and assurance of the network services by design. Cisco Prime for MPLS-TP and IP/MPLS management was used for monitoring and assurance capabilities across Ericsson and Cisco platforms.

    "It is great to see the continued standardization efforts of MPLS-TP in the IETF result in a successful multi-vendor interoperability test. The participating solutions have clearly left the engineering labs. Our pioneering functional interoperability tests helped progress the solutions further, and served to provide feedback to IETF to increase consistency in draft MPLS-TP standards," said Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, EANTC. "The participating vendors tested interworking capabilities with IP/MPLS as well, which is a key milestone in the move towards converged packet networks."

    European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC)



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