Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)

MPLS

• Integrated service can deliver individual flow guaranteed QoS, but is not scalable.
• Differentiated service is highly scalable, but it is not capable of delivering the guaranteed QoS required by the services.
• MPLS is a solution to the problems which are identified while carrying IP over Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks.
• The ATM control is not directly compatible with IP. Therefore, the solution was presented to use efficient switching capability of ATM switches and to remove the remote control functionality and replace it with an alternative control mechanism that is known as MPLS.
• MPLS is an efficient mechanism to manage ATM switches. It is also a general methodology for controlling circuit switched networks.
• It uses a multiple link layer protocols to carry labeled traffic of a number of higher network layer protocol, hence it is called as multi-protocol.