BR,
Check this one out, it is happening whether you like or not :
Uunet Upgrades European Network
July 22, 1999
By Kate Gerwig
UUNET, MCI WORLDCOM'S Internet company, announced
Wednesday it's beginning a three-phase upgrade of its European
Internet network to 2.4 gigabits of data per second.
By deploying the new Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS)
technology, Uunet will increase its European network capacity 16-fold.
The capacity upgrade ultimately will increase the company's ability to
offer video services and new applications over the network, according to
Kevin Boyne, senior vice president of Global Operations. The upgrade is
not being made to handle voice services over the European network,
Boyne said.
………………………………………………………
Uunet's implementation of MPLS
technology is the first commercial
deployment of the technology,
according to Boyne.
………………………………………………………
Uunet's Internet Protocol (IP) over MPLS over Sonet facilities in Europe
will run in addition to its existing IP over ATM over Sonet network there.
Using the new MPLS technology will position Uunet to make the next
technology upgrade, according to Uunet Chief Scientist Mike O'Dell.
Uunet will use Juniper Networks M40 gigabit routers in the European
MPLS lines, but says it is also working closely with Cisco Systems for
further deployment of high-speed routers. The MPLS network upgrade to
STM-16 (2.4 Gbps) is equivalent of Uunet's OC-48 upgrade in the U.S.,
he said.
In phase one of the upgrade, which will be completed in the third quarter
of this year, Uunet will first increase capacity between London,
Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Phase two of the project will add the Paris
and Brussels routes in the fourth quarter, as well as a similar
deployment via Uunet's Gemini 2000 transatlantic undersea cable by
2000. Uunet's implementation of MPLS technology is the first
commercial deployment of the technology, according to Boyne, who
added that the company believes the protocol is mature enough to be
deployed for commercial use.
MPLS has been in development by the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) for years, Boyne said. Its key benefits are that it will enable
Uunet to deliver consistent levels of service across its networks in the
U.S. and Europe, where Internet traffic growth is outpacing that of the
U.S. For now, Uunet still plans to use IP over its ATM backbone in the
U.S., Boyne says, but eventually MPLS will be used here too.
Uunet and other ISPs have run into engineering problems trying to
increase the IP/ATM interface speeds above 2.4 Gbps, O'Dell
explained, so the move to MPLS will make future upgrades easier. "The
problem is in building ATM interfaces that run at OC192 line speeds. As
the line rate gets faster and faster, it gets harder to do. Sot it's a
significant engineering bottleneck," O'Dell says.
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