BOSTON -- The MPLS Forum announced today the industry’s first public multi-vendor Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) interoperability demonstration. A milestone technical event, the GMPLS proof of concept demonstration is scheduled for October 14 - 15 from 3 pm - 8:30 pm at the Next Generation Networks (NGN) trade show in the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel, Boston, MA. Seven companies will participate in the GMPLS demonstration.“The GMPLS test event is a serious milestone in advancing GMPLS standards from concept to reality and, eventually, carrier deployment,” said Ananda Sen Gupta, vice president, Marketing, MPLS Forum and product manager, Agilent Technologies. “GMPLS promises to simplify network operations leading to reduced operations expenditures (OPEX) for carriers. Through the work of groups like the MPLS Forum, interoperability testing will continue to facilitate the development of the technical specifications as they mature.” This interoperability demonstration validates the speed and ease of provisioning enabled by GMPLS in a live, multi-vendor network. GMPLS is a set of network protocols, under development by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) that provides a common control plane for devices that switch in packet, wavelength, time-division multiplexing and fiber networks. Participating vendors and products include: Agilent’s Router Tester 900; Cisco’s 12404 Router; Data Connection (DCL) DC-MPLS, DC-OSPF and DC-LMP software; Juniper Networks M10 router; NetPlane’s LTCS-Optical; NetTest’s GMPLS interEMULATOR and Sycamore’s SN 16000 Intelligent Optical Switch. In a separate release:Data Connection Ltd. (DCL), the leading independent developer and supplier of protocol software, announced today that it is participating in the industry's first public multi-vendor Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) interoperability demonstration being organized by the MPLS Forum. DCL was first to market with GMPLS in August 2000, OIF-UNI in April 2001 and LMP in December 2001. DCL has continued to be one of the driving forces behind the standardization of these protocols and, as a result, supplies its software to almost all the major optical equipment vendors."Optical control plane technology is advancing very rapidly, whilst maintaining consensus among the various players", said Ben Miller, VP of Sales and Marketing for DCL's protocol division. "This maturity has enabled us to produce a fully integrated software solution, comprising OSPF-TE (or ISIS-TE) for routing, GMPLS for signaling, and LMP for link management."Visit DCL at booth 123, and see the demonstration between 3 and 8:30 pm this Monday and Tuesday, October 14 & 15, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel as part of the NGN.MPLS ForumData Connection Ltd. (DCL)