The coming of age of MPLS

Large operators have embraced multiprotocol label switching, deploying it in their backbone networks to enable a number of services and applications such as virtual private networks to just name one. Since the inception of the respective IETF working group, MPLS has accumulated a number of features and has been extended to be applicable in new contexts such as optical networks in the form of generalized MPLS. Currently, MPLS is being further extended to finally mature into a technology from which to build a full-fledged packet transport network that fulfills a large number of traditional transport network requirements. Having celebrated the early teens of MPLS in 2009, the IETF might well find itself celebrating MPLS's coming of age with the completion of the MPLS Transport Profile (MPLS-TP). This article is a short tutorial on what MPLS-TP is, how it came about, and what it promises to deliver in the future.