MPLS—Bringing IP Networks And Connection-Oriented Networks Together

摘要

The knock against Internet Protocol (IP) networks is, by now, familiar: While connectionless IP networks offer simplicity and are relatively easy to configure, they lack the ability to provide guaranteed delivery of the packets they carry. The fact that they are "non-deterministic" has relegated their use to best-effort access transport. That's changing, and with good reason: Intense competition among service providers has pushed them to respond to user requirements for next-generation, often IP-based services and applications, many of which assume that the network can provide high levels of availability and predictability.