Drivers for This Solution
We will now address the key applications for Ethernet over MPLS, looking firstly at
how it may be used to add Ethernet services to existing IP/MPLS networks, secondly
at where it may be introduced to scale an existing Ethernet deployment, and finally at
where it may be one component of a converged network offering.
Ethernet Services over IP WANs
As stated previously, Ethernet over MPLS was originally developed for carriers who
wished to offer point-to-point Ethernet services across Layer 3 IP/MPLS backbones.
This was fundamentally a wide area application providing PoP to PoP Ethernet private
lines. One of the key drivers for carriers in deploying this application was to offer services
to customers such as Internet Service Providers or large enterprises that wanted
high bandwidth from point-to-point and wanted to keep their routing separate from
that of the carrier.
Scaling Metro Ethernet Deployments
The second phase of Ethernet over MPLS deployments came as carriers looked to scale
Carrier Ethernet services that had been deployed using Layer 2 Ethernet switches.
Layer 2 Ethernet switching suffers from a number of limitations when applied to carrier
networks:
?– Protection Ethernet-switched networks depend on the Spanning Tree Protocol
for protection.
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