MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance Service Provider Committee Meets for First Time; Alliance Plans Interoperability Events for 2004, Provides Technology Tutorials.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2003

The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance's newly-created Service Provider Committee (SPC) met for the first time at the Alliance's recent quarterly meeting in London. The SPC will give service provider members an opportunity to develop new requirements and generate work items for the Alliance's technical working groups. The primary goal of the SPC is to assist in the creation and prioritization of the Technical Committee's work plan from a carrier perspective through the development of MPLS and Frame Relay requirements.

"The SPC will give carrier member network and product planners a voice within the Alliance that complements the efforts of the technical working groups," said Andrew Malis of Tellabs, chairman and president of the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance. "By giving service providers direct input into the Technical Committee work priorities, the Alliance is ensuring that its efforts accurately target service provider needs. We also benefit from the input of carriers and service providers for planning interoperability events and other projects."

"The Service Provider Committee will be an ideal channel through which carriers can provide input on MPLS/Frame Relay technical work," said Ed Sierecki, lead member of technical staff at SBC Laboratories, Inc. "The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance is demonstrating its commitment to open, interoperable solutions by including carriers early in the development of new technical agreements."

Global Interoperability Events

The Interoperability Working Group met at the quarterly meeting to plan a roadmap of events for 2004. Events in Europe, Asia and the US are planned, marking the first time the Alliance will be organizing interoperability testing on a global scale. The first planned event will occur at the MPLS World Congress in Paris in February 2004 and will focus on Quality of Service (QoS) elements of MPLS technology. A second interoperability demonstration will take place in Kobe, Japan, at the International Conference on Communication and Broadband Networking 2004 (ICBN'04) in April.

"In 2004 the Alliance wants to demonstrate the interoperability of products that meet specific implementation agreement requirements," said Ananda Sen Gupta of Agilent Technologies, MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance interoperability working group chair. "At the London meeting the Interoperability Working Group agreed on the technology focus and global scale of future demonstrations, furthering the Alliance's mission to advance the recognition and acceptance of MPLS and Frame Relay technologies in the global telecom industry."

Technology Tutorials Offered at Meeting

The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance meeting, which was co-located with the ATM Forum's quarterly meeting, presented two half-day tutorials to Alliance members, ATM Forum members and the public. The tutorials, "Migrating Legacy Services to MPLS" and "MPLS VPNs" gave an in-depth, vendor-neutral review of the technologies. The first tutorial provided attendees with insight into the business and technical strategies that allow carriers to migrate existing services to an MPLS infrastructure while preserving legacy technology such as ATM, Frame Relay, Voice and TDM. The second half-day tutorial reviewed MPLS Layer 2 VPN models and the MPLS Layer 3 model in contrast to other types of VPNs in use today.

"Focused on educating the industry, the Alliance will continue to provide these and other tutorials for our members and the public," said Roger Ruby of Quick Eagle Networks, MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance market awareness & education committee co-chair. "The goal of the tutorials is to minimize the confusion surrounding today's various networking choices for both service providers and end-users."

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 a complete list of members, go to http://www.mplsforum.org/about/members.shtml. 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/.