Huawei announces Industry’s First Hybrid MPLS Prototype

Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, has announced the launch of its standard-based H-MPLS (Hybrid-Multiprotocol Label Switching) prototype. Huawei’s prototype is a lightweight unified bearer solution that can simplify VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) planning within an access network and extend service scalability to the network at large.

Hybrid MPLS is based on Huawei’s SingleFAN broadband access solution and it provides a unified bearer platform for ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), TDM (Time Division Multiplexing), Ethernet and IP (Internet Protocol) with MPLS encapsulation. The technologies within Huawei’s H-MPLS solution have been accepted under the ITU-T standard for GPON/XG-PON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network/10G Passive Optical Network).

As networks and services increasingly converge, MPLS is favored by many operators worldwide as a unified bearer technology. Enterprise VPN, mobile backhaul, and wholesale services require MPLS to extend from the metro to the network edge. However, native MPLS is designed for router platforms, which are comprised of powerful hardware. Supporting native MPLS on edge devices therefore increases both operational and capital expenses, impeding the ability of operators to deploy MPLS to the network edge and limiting operators’ network capability and service scalability.

Recognizing this shortcoming, Huawei used its access network expertise to develop an innovative H-MPLS solution. Unlike traditional MPLS, H-MPLS does not require direct configuration of network edge devices. As a result, the number of nodes that needs to be managed can be reduced by up to 99 percent.

Moreover, using H-MPLS, there is no need to configure IP addresses and routing protocols on edge devices, and this reduces configuration workloads by up to 90 percent. H-MPLS is also a cost-effective solution since it neither increases the hardware cost of edge devices within the current access network nor the cost of deploying MPLS widely.

“H-MPLS uses the existing OMCI (ONU Management and Control Interface) management protocol to distribute MPLS labels over multiple PON systems,” said Dr. Frank J. Effenberger, Huawei’s leader of optical access research. “The label distribution method is already standardized, and has negligible impact to the cost or complexity of PON access systems.”

H-MPLS further enhances the capability of Huawei’s SingleFAN broadband access solution. A leading IP and optical access solution, SingleFAN has enriched the lives of more than one-third of the world’s broadband users by providing them with ultra-broadband access.