Selection of different ITU-T G.652.D cabled fibers for optical fiber networks
Over the past few years, leading communications service providers and a number of NE (network element) suppliers have supported the development of an MPLS Transport profile (MPLS-TP) that will enable the technology to be operated in a similar manner to existing transport technologies and give it the capability to support packet transport services with a degree of predictability that is found in existing transport networks.
Abstract
Over the past few years, leading communications service providers and a number of NE (network element) suppliers have supported the development of an MPLS Transport profile (MPLS-TP) that will enable the technology to be operated in a similar manner to existing transport technologies and give it the capability to support packet transport services with a degree of predictability that is found in existing transport networks. The fundamental idea is to extend MPLS wherever necessary with Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) tools that are widely applied in existing transport network technologies such as SONET/SDH or OTN. This paper provides a brief history of the MPLS-TP standardization activities and addresses the MPLS-TP OAM functions. These functions are targeted at making MPLS comparable to SONET/SDH and OTN in terms of reliability and monitoring capabilities, i.e., MPLS-TP will become a true carrier grade packet transport technology.
Introduction
An MPLS-TP network can be operated in an SDH-like fashion and a network management system (NMS) can be used to configure connections. Connection management and restoration functions, however, can alternatively be provided utilising the Generalised MPLS (GMPLS) control plane protocols which are also applicable to the MPLS-TP data plane. In addition to the simplification of the network operation leading to reduced operational expenditures (OPEX), the GMPLS control plane provides network restoration capabilities, in addition to the network protection features that the MPLS-TP data plane already provides.This results in a further improved network resiliency.
