MPLS-Enabled Applications: Emerging Developments and New Technologies

15.8. FINAL REMARKS

As can be seen from the examples given in this book, the scope of MPLS and the way it is being used has extended beyond what even its more optimistic proponents might have predicted when the work started only a few years ago. Indeed, the use of MPLS in the enterprise discussed in the previous section is an example of MPLS technology being used in an unexpected way. Other such examples include the use of MPLS to provide VPLS. This shows that the question is not whether the technology was originally intended for a particular purpose but whether it can fulfill a particular purpose efficiently. The scaling properties and extensibility of a solution is what determines its ultimate success and deployment. In this final chapter we have attempted to give a flavor of the directions MPLS may go in the future. Today it is mainly a technology used in the service provider core to provide a particular subset of data services. In future, it is likely to take center-stage as a technology that spans multiple providers and underpins the delivery of all voice and data services.