What frame relay switch is causing MCI/Worldcom such grief?

Vadim Antonov avg at kotovnik.com
Mon Aug 9 20:07:22 UTC 1999



> So I guess that means you know more than all those smart people (on
> both the service provider side and equipment side) who are helping
> incorporate lessons from Frame Relay and ATM circuit routing into
> MPLS?

Yep. I can put together two and two and get four.  I'm not going to
read yet another lecture on computational complexity of adaptive circuit
routing but so far nobody figured out a way to make it work in a
network comparable to the current Internet in size.  That's why
nobody is even attempting to do MPLS or whatever across IXPs and
only do in in the interior (actually this is also misguided, but
for different reasons, having more to do with implementation complexity).

BTW, a good many smart people who actually built the biggest chunks
of the Internet backbone and the software which keeps it running
share my opinion.

In any case, the argument that million lemmings cant be all wrong is
particularly hilarious.  The issue of virtual circuit vs per-hop
routing was discussed extensively in this forum years ago (in ATM vs
IP context) and the consensus was pretty much against ATM.  I would
advise you to review the archives and see for yourself.  Since there
were no dramatic advances in either understanding of the problem,
circuit-routing algorithms, or basic computing technology (well, the
quantum computing can concievably solve the computablibity problem
for circuit routing, but not any time soon :) i see little reason
to start the arguments all over again.

Of course, you may have something really new to say on the topic,
but i would check that that wasn't already beaten to death.

Regards,

--vadim




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