10 Companies to Show Interoperability at MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance SUPERDemo; Alliance Teams with MSF to Demonstrate Interoperability at SUPERCOMM.

FREMONT, Calif. -- The MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance announced today the 10 companies participating in a multi-vendor interoperability demo at SUPERCOMM 2004, June 22-24 in booth # 21439 - Hall A. The participating vendors will be showcasing MPLS technology, while Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) members provide a proof of concept Voice over IP application running over an MPLS backbone. Joining forces to test interoperability of MPLS are Agilent Technologies, Alcatel, CIENA Corp., Cisco Systems, MRV, Native Networks, Nortel Networks, Spirent Communications, Tellabs, and World Wide Packets.

"Several key features are being tested in this multi-vendor demonstration, giving MPLS users a look into the future," said Andrew G. Malis of Tellabs, president and chairman of the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance. "The addition of the MSF members' participation furthers the Alliance's goal to collaborate with other industry forums that provide complimentary technology."

"The MSF is delighted to collaborate with the Alliance in their SUPERDemo," said Roger Ward of BT, president of the Multiservice Switching Forum. "Carriers are looking at integrating VoIP over an MPLS infrastructure and being involved in this demonstration is the first step towards showing the industry that this is a real-world application."

Participating members demonstrated interoperability of several different MPLS related features and protocols during the Hot Stage test that took place last week at University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) and was further supported by The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC). A detailed white paper is available at http://mplsforum.org/tech/superdemo_2004.pdf.

--New MPLS based services such as Hierarchical Virtual Private LAN Service (H-VPLS) were tested for the first time. For the Enterprise, these features will allow network managers to connect multiple geographically dispersed sites in a converged IP-based multi-protocol network, and at the same time will be easier to scale and manage for the Service Providers, than would otherwise be possible.

--As service providers launch new services, Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) capabilities of MPLS networks are increasingly required to isolate MPLS data and control plane problems. For the first time, the new MPLS feature Label Switched Path (LSP) Ping was successfully tested. This feature will help simplify data plane failure detection and isolation processes during MPLS network operations.

--As carriers evolve their network architectures to converged IP/MPLS-based backbones, the ability to interwork with existing deployed technologies is critical. The first interoperability of an ATM-MPLS interworking standard was tested, proving multi-vendor interconnection of ATM PNNI tunneling and S-PVC connection setup across a new MPLS network. Carriers can now consider migration of their existing ATM services to MPLS without significant new investment in equipment or provisioning systems.

--Layer 2 (Martini/PWE3-based Ethernet, Frame Relay and ATM pseudowires) and Layer 3 VPNs continue to be an important focus in the industry as carriers add existing and new services to their MPLS networks. Interoperability of these features was tested across a resilient MPLS core network.

--This event marks the first time that the Alliance has joined forces with the MSF to publicly demonstrate how guaranteed voice quality can be offered over a resilient and verifiable MPLS network. For service providers, VoIP-over-MPLS is expected to accelerate deployment of unified voice, data and video networks by cementing their security and making them easier and less costly to deploy.

About the Multiservice Switching Forum

The Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF) is a global association of service providers and system suppliers committed to developing and promoting open-architecture, multiservice switching systems. Founded in 1998, the MSF is an open-membership organization comprised of the world's leading telecommunications companies. The MSF's activities include developing implementation agreements, promoting worldwide compatibility and interoperability, and encouraging input to appropriate national and international standards bodies. For more information about the MSF and its members, visit the MSF web site at http://www.msforum.org/.

About the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance

The MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance is an international industry organization that is advancing the recognition and acceptance of MPLS and Frame Relay technologies in the global telecom industry. The Alliance is driving worldwide deployment of multi-vendor MPLS and Frame Relay networks, applications and services, through interoperability initiatives, implementation agreements, and educational and marketing resources and programs. The Alliance currently has more than 50 members. For Alliance membership information please contact Alexa Morris, executive director, at [phone] or via e-mail at [e-mail]. Additional information about The MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance is available online at http://www.mplsforum.org/.

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