Unanimous Vote Completes MPLS and Frame Relay Forum Merger; Merged Organization Called MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2003 Finalizing an earlier announced move, the MPLS (1) (MultiProtocol Lambda Switching) The earlier name for GMPLS. See GMPLS. (2) (MultiProtocol Label Switching) A standard from the IETF for including routing information in the packets of an IP network. Forum and the Frame Relay A high-speed packet switching protocol used in wide area networks (WANs). Providing a granular service of up to DS3 speed (45 Mbps), it has become popular for LAN to LAN connections across remote distances, and services are offered by most major carriers. Forum (FRF FRF The ISO 4217 currency code for the French Franc. ) announced today that the membership of both organizations have voted unanimously to merge into one organization to be known as the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance. The combined organization will bring together telecommunications service providers A Telecommunications Service Provider or TSP is a type of Communications Service Provider that has traditionally provided telephone and similar services. This category includes ILECs, CLECs, and mobile wireless companies. , equipment vendors, and software and silicon suppliers under a unified industry association. Members from both forums will meet officially as one group for the first time at an annual meeting in Montreal, April 22-24, 2003. On the agenda for the meeting is MPLS and Frame Relay interoperability and service interworking (standard) interworking - Systems or components, possibly from different origins, working together to perform some task. Interworking depends crucially on standards to define the interfaces between the components. . "In the quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the better performance from existing infrastructure, many carriers, service providers and vendors seek guidance from associations such as the MPLS Forum and the Frame Relay Forum," said Todd Hanson, principal analyst of Public Network Infrastructure, Gartner. "The merger of these organizations will boost their collective ability to help telecom industry participants better understand how to transmit native voice, legacy data, LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. and video traffic while providing differentiated classes of service and appropriate quality of service. "Lucent Technologies, a long-standing member of the MPLS and Frame Relay Forums, looks forward to continuing its participation as a member of the newly-formed MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance. We believe the Alliance can move the industry more quickly toward a unified network that enables service providers to leverage their embedded networks and evolve to an MPLS core supporting today's and tomorrow's services," said John Sax (Simple API for XML) A programming interface (API) for accessing the contents of an XML document. SAX does not provide a random access lookup to the document's contents. It scans the document sequentially and presents each item to the application only one time. , chief technical officer for Lucent Technologies Multiservice Switching business. "This merger is an important milestone in the evolution of the next generation network," said Andrew G Andrew Jonas Günsberg (born 1974), popularly known as Andrew G, is an Australian television and radio presenter who is best known as the co-host of the reality series Australian Idol. He was also the compere of Network Ten's game show The Con Test. . Malis, chairman and president of the MPLS Forum. "The synergy among the two technologies will be reflected by the cooperation between the members of the new MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance. The mission of the two forums can be accomplished more efficiently and effectively as one organization." "We are excited to officially join forces with the MPLS Forum," said Roger Ruby, former acting president and co-marketing chairman for the Frame Relay Forum. "I'm confident that our members will benefit from sharing knowledge and technical experience with our MPLS partners." The leadership of the merged MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance will include Roger Ruby of Quick Eagle Networks and Gary Leonard Gary Francis Leonard (born February 16 1967 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former professional basketball player. Leonard stands 7'1" and weighs 295 lbs. An all-state and All-America prep basketball selection as a senior at Belleville East High School, Leonard went on to a of Riverstone Networks Riverstone Networks, was a provider of networking switching hardware based in Santa Clara, California. Originally part of Cabletron Systems, and based on an early acquisition of YAGO, it was one of the many Gigabit Ethernet startups in the mid 1990's. as Marketing Committee co-chairs. Rao Cherukuri of Cisco and John Yu of Hammerhead hammerhead, common name for a heavy-looking, heronlike bird, Scopus umbretta. Its plumage is brown with light and dark glossy, purplish streaks on the wings and body. It has short legs, partially webbed feet, and a heavy, wide, moderately long, black bill. Systems will chair the Technical Committee, with Jarrod Siket of Marconi serving as vice chair. The Frame Relay Forum's Technical Committee (FRF TC) will be incorporated within the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance as the Frame Relay Working Group. The Frame Relay Forum was incorporated in May 1991 as an association of vendors, carriers, users, and consultants committed to the education, promotion, and implementation of frame relay in accordance with international standards. In its history, the FRF put out 21 implementation agreements and held numerous interoperability events. All marketing and technical documents are available via the FRF website as well as the MPLS web site. The MPLS Forum, established in 2000, began as an international industry organization driving worldwide deployment of multi-vendor MPLS networks, applications and services. The Forum accomplished this through interoperability initiatives, implementation agreements and education programs. About the MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance is an international industry organization of 60 members, 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 & Frame Relay networks, applications and services through interoperability initiatives, implementation agreements and educational and marketing resources and programs. For more information about The MPLS/Frame Relay Alliance, please contact Alexa Morris, executive director, at 510/608-5914 or via e-mail at amorris@mplsforum.org. Additional information regarding Forum membership and the Forum's mission is available online at http://www.mplsforum.org/. |
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