David Drury President & Chairman VP Technology Strategy Marconi Communications

1. MPLS in the broadband IP Network David Drury President & Chairman VP Technology Strategy Marconi Communications David.drury@marconi.com

2. MPLS is the enabling technology for the New Broadband (IP) Public Network

3. Status today • Traffic growth is on IP best effort networks • Revenue is still predominately voice and other deterministic services • Building multiple overlay networks is not cost effective • But how can IP networks support true multi-service capability and scale to meet the needs of the broadband future.

4. Topics covered • What is Multi-protocol label Switching • How does it fit into IP network development plans – MPLS Applications • The role of the MPLS Forum

5. What is Multi-protocol Label Switching ?

6. MPLS Technology • Routers or switches that handle MPLS and IP are known as Label Switch Routers (LSR’s) • LSR’s at the edge of MPLS networks are sometimes referred to as Label Edge Routers (LER’s) • Ingress LER’s are responsible for classifying unlabelled IP packets and appending the appropriate label. • Egress LER’s are responsible for removing the label and forwarding the unlabelled IP packet towards its destination. • All IP packets that follow the same path through the MPLS network and receive the same treatment at each node are known as a Forwarding Equivalence Class (FEC).

7. MPLS Technology There are three key elements of MPLS • The MPLS header stack • Which contain the MPLS label on which Label Switch Routers will forward the packet. Headers can be stacked. • The enhanced IP routing protocols • Which distribute topology and constraint based data • The label distribution protocols • The standardized connection establishment protocols through which LSR’s set up a complete path from ingress LSR to egress LSR. This path is known as a Label Switched Path or LSP. MPLS adds a connection oriented paradigm into IP networks

8. MPLS Shim Header Structure MPLS "shim" headers ... Layer 2 Header IP Packet Label: 20-bit value, (0-16 reserved) Exp.: 3-bits Experimental ( ToS) S: 1-bit Bottom of stack TTL: 8-bits Time To Live Label Exp. S TTL 4 Octets Label Switching Look up inbound label + port (+Exp) to determine outbound label + port + treatment Header operations Swap (label) Push (a new header) Pop (a header from stack) MPLS encapsulations are also defined for ATM and Frame relay.

9. Establishing the label bindings • Each switch needs a table that contains the actions it is to perform when a given label arrives. • The downstream end of a link needs to know what label values will be sent. • This can be done by management action – directly equivalent to PVC’s in ATM. • But this does not scale well. • And there is no interoperability between management systems – so multi-operator connections are difficult if not impossible. • Hence trend to protocol driven service establishment and the reason for IP’s success. • So we need to automate the LSP establishment process.

10. MPLS Routing protocols Start with existing IGP’s • OSPF • IS-IS • BGP-4 • Enhance to carry constraint data • OSPF-TE • IS-IS –TE Distribute topology information only Constraint data Link capacity,Link utilization Resource class Priority Pre-emption etc Constraint based routing is the key to Traffic Engineering

11. Explicit constraint based routing Route determined by ingress LSR based on overall view of topology, and constraints Traffic engineering CoS and (QoS) fast (50ms) rerouting Label Distribution Protocols Hop by Hop routing Ensures routers agree on bindings between FEC’s and the labels. Label paths follow same route as conventional routed path • LDP • CR-LDP • RSVP-TE

12. MPLS Partitions Routing and Forwarding Based on: Classful Addr. Prefix? Classless Addr. Prefix? Multicast Addr.? Port No.? ToS Field? Routing OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, RIP Forwarding Table Forwarding Based on: Exact Match on Fixed Length Label MPLS By separating Routing from forwarding MPLS introduces more flexibility to develop new routing solutions without impacting the data plane hardware of label switch routers Single forwarding paradigm – multiple routing paradigms The edge LSR is able to use a wide variety of input in determining the FEC, and not just the destination IP address Flexibility in forming FEC’s

13. With rfc editor Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture MPLS Label Stack Encoding Awaiting final IESG approval Use of Label Switching on Frame Relay VCID Notification over ATM link for LDP LDP State Machine MPLS using LDP and ATM VC Switching LDP Applicability Applicability Statement for Extensions to RSVP for LSP-Tunnels Awaiting IESG Last Call Carrying Label Information in BGP-4 ICMP Extensions for MultiProtocol Label Switching IESG comment resolution A Framework for MPLS Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels Constraint-Based LSP Setup using LDP Applicability Statement for CR-LDP WG Last Call LDP Specification MPLS Support of Differentiated Services WG Last Call comment resolution Definitions of Managed Objects for the Multiprotocol Label Switching, Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) MPLS Label Switch Router Management Information Base Using SMIv2 IETF Document status There are currently 81 Internet Drafts that reference MPLS

14. How does it fit into IP network development plans – MPLS Applications

15. Applications of MPLS • Traffic Engineering • Adding Class of Service (CoS) and Quality of Service (QoS) • Network scalability • Supporting IP VPN’s

16. Traffic EngineeringCurrent IGP’s lead to Hyper-Aggregation TRAFFIC FOR D SHORTEST PATH ROUTED D S MASSIVE CONGESTION CONGESTION

17. Traffic EngineeringCurrent IGP’s lead to Hyper-Aggregation TRAFFIC FOR D SHORTEST PATH ROUTED 9 UNDER ULTILIZED] 4 OVERUTILIZED ] LINKS D S MASSIVE CONGESTION CONGESTION

18. Traffic EngineeringIS the Answer • Objectives • Map actual traffic efficiently to available resources • Controlled use of resources • Redistribute traffic rapidly and effectively in response to changes in network topology - particularly as a consequence of line or equipment failure • Note this complements Network Engineering • Putting the network where the traffic is

19. Traffic engineering distributes traffic Traffic distributed over Network resources by MPLS traffic engineering - Congestion eliminated D S

20. Benefit of MPLS traffic engineering • Traffic engineering in large IP networks currently uses ATM. • The router network is ATM unaware and hence there are two control planes. • The router control plane has a large number of adjacencies which limits scalability. • MPLS is IP aware and introduces a single IP control plane that matches the physical topology and hence scales better and is simpler. • This is being extended into MPS (MPLambdaS) to extend Traffic Engineering to the emerging Optical networking plane

21. Adding CoS and QoS • Explicit path set up can also associate specific resource requests with an FEC • Class of service • Establish relative priority of one FEC over another – no absolute guarantees • Quality of service • Specific guarantees on • Bandwidth • Delay • Burst size etc • Primary objective is for MPLS to support the Diff-Serv QoS model (EF, AF1-12,etc) CoS and QoS require explicit support in the data plane of the LSR’s

22. Benefits of MPLS QoS • The ultimate benefit is a unified or converged network supporting all classes of service • The IP Qos model for the support of real time services such as voice is at an early stage. • Most multi-service networks are moving to a “Ships-in-the-night” paradigm • This continues to support ATM services with ATM protocols • And at the same time on the same platforms supports and MPLS control plane of IP services

23. Hierarchy via Label stack= Network scalability Layer 2 Header Label 3 Label 2 Label 1 IP Packet Within each domain the IGP simply needs to allow the Boarder (ingress) routers to determine the appropriate egress boarder router Reducing drastically size of routing table in transit routers MPLS Domain 1 MPLS Domain 2 MPLS Domain 3

24. Benefit of MPLS in scaling • MPLS labels introduce hierarchy • Transit routers no longer need to handle complete routing tables • New layers of the hierarchy can be introduced as needed for scaling.

25. Support of IP VPN’s • A Virtual Private Network • An IP network delivering private network services over a public infrastructure • Supports global and non unique private address space • Supports CoS and QoS • Use of labels isolates IP addresses within public network from customer IP addresses • Creates a highly scalable VPN • Not currently standardized by IETF

26. Benefit of MPLS IP VPN’s • Provides a mechanism to scale both the number of VPN’s and the number of members per VPN to very large numbers. • Allows VPN’s to have non-unique IP addressing • Provides for a great deal of flexibility in defining the VPN service (from the mapping to FEC’s) • Enables meaningful CoS and QoS Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) to be associated with a VPN

27. MPLS Status • MPLS is a critical additional capability for IP networks. It solves problems for which no other solutions are known. • It is difficult to anticipate the longer term future and what applications may be supported because of the innovations MPLS enables. • MPLS introduces a significant architectural change in IP networks. • It is the future of the converged IP network

28. The role of the MPLS Forum

29. Our goal The MPLS Forum is an international industry forum accelerating the adoption of Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and its associated technologies. These Technologies are critical to the creation of the New Public Network The New Public Network $120B/year IP VPN new revenue by 2010 $380B equipment sales over next seven years

30. Membership Growth • 21 Principal Members • (7 Operators/Service providers) • 30 Small Principal Members • Not for profit

31. The role of the Forum • Interoperability • Defining capability sets and working with Interoperability labs • Applications • Applications are typically not covered by IETF • Education • Producing an 8 hour MPLS tutorial • Will produce other MPLS training material • Web site (www.mplsforum.org)

32. The four point plan • Focus on speeding successful deployment of MPLS technology • MPLS interoperability initiatives • SLA definitions and validation • Education and tutorial material creation

33. The organization of the Forum • Board of Directors • The Market Awareness and Education Committee • The Technical Committee • Work items driven by member contributions • Focused on requirements not covered in any other standards body • Liaison with IETF, ITU, ATMF, etc

34. Summary of last TC meeting • Swisscom, France Telecom, Broadband Office presented their requirements on MPLS • Results of interoperability testing at UNH and demo at Networks+Interop • Protection switching and recovery with MPLS • Discussion on first TC contribution • Voice over MPLS • Accepted by the meeting as an on-going work item • (Explicitly excluded in Adelaide from the IETF MPLS WG charter)

35. Concluding remarks • MPLS is a very important extension to IP networks. • It is a key element of moving from best effort IP networks today to true multi-service new public networks of tomorrow • The base standards are technically stable and initial implementations are underway in the core • Interoperability and completion of other drafts is essential before MPLS can extend to the edge. • The MPLS Forum is speeding up the deployment process and opening new application areas.

36. For more information – MPLS Forum MPLS Forum 39355 California Street, Suite 307 Fremont, CA 94538 Fax: 510.608.5917 E-Mail: info@mplsf.org WWW: www.mplsforum.org Alexa Morris Executive Director Phone: 510 608 5014 E-mail:amorris@mplsforum.org Or to me - David Drury (David.drury@marconi.com)

37. Thank you