The MPLS-OPS Archive

[sthaug@nethelp.no]

> I agree L2VPN does have a market [forgive the sarcasm but so does poison :)].
>  
> The point I do not quite get is why would the end user want a termination point on a Packet switching device with the SP?
>  
> Are you saying that the cost difference between buying a Layer 2 switch versus a Layer 3 switch is "so highly significant"?

I don't know the customers' motives. All I can say is that

- There are definitely customers who are happy to get a packet (Ethernet)
interface from the provider - this is independent of whether the provider
sells VPLS or not. Some reasons for wanting an Ethernet interface are:
Less expensive than many traditional types of interfaces, more easily
upgradable bandwidth.

- Of the customers that want an Ethernet interface from the providers, 
there are some that would like to run point to multipoint - and this is
then the market for VPLS. An example: Only yesterday we had a customer
who wanted to run Cisco switches as a "stack" (manageable as one unit)
at several different physical locations (one stack spanning locations A,
B, C, etc). We have tried to discourage the customer a bit - saying that
this is not necessarily a good idea. But that's what the customer wanted!

> Why would he not buy a Layer 3 switch (if what he wants is ethernet) , take a link and connect it off to the SDH/SONET multiplexer provided by the SP and use the same? What is the benefit he gets by terminating at a Packet switching kind of device on the SP end?

See above. An additional reason is that the least expensive links now
are often DSL based, with a pure bridge-type CPE box (with Ethernet
interface).

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no

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