MPLS Providers

Thu Jan 5 18:06:24 UTC 2006

That's sort of a loaded question.  Some provider's offerings are good
for different reasons/have different strengths.  Your best fit would
depend on your individual needs.  

How many sites will you have, and what is your access method and speed
preference?  
Do you need granular QoS from CPE to CPE or will queuing on the access
loop suffice?  
Prefer or require layer 2 (Martini, Kompella/Lasserre, etc.) MPLS vs.
layer 3 (2547)? 
Do you need the service to support multicast?
Does your WAN require the service to support an IGP (OSPF, RIPv2, etc.)?
Do you require internet access over the same access loop?
Require the provider's network to be physically separate from the public
internet?
Plus many more...

The answers to these questions should significantly narrow your choices.

Bryant Rump

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu] On Behalf Of
Andrew Staples
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 12:36 PM
To: nanog at merit.edu
Subject: MPLS Providers

We're looking at purchasing MPLS services for locations nationwide.
Does anyone have personal experiences they'd care to share about
providers...the good, the bad, the ugly?

I'm not looking for public bashing, just data to differentiate one from
another.   Any comments or direction appreciated.

Andrew