MPLS enabled networks in the future MANs

[srihari varada <varada () txc com>]

Hello All:

I would appreciate, if you could address the following questions as per
your perceived vision of the future
and experiences with the past such technologies:

-- Would MPLS make it's way into MANs given the driving forces or
promises of: (1) the VPNs, the Circuit Emulation
    service offering (from the user perspective),  and (2) the Load
balancing, the Fault Restoration, the scalability and the
    Unified control plane with CWDM/DWDM optical switches (from the
network service provider point of view)?

-- Is/Are there any MAN network service provider(s) considering the MPLS
enabled networks for their future
    network architectures? If so how soon it could be?

-- Would the Gigabit Ethernet be widely adopted as link layer for MPLS
in the MANs given the
     investment in the Gigabit Ethernet based infrastructure that is
already there? Would they complement well (for
     instance, load balancing, fault restoration) given the fact there
are similarities in both of the
    approaches (tag switching, some QoS features)?

-- Would pure IP and MPLS enabled domains co-exist for any reason that
is not technical in nature?
    If so, what would be the motivation beyond legacy support?

Regards,

Srihari Varada
TranSwitch Corporation
3 Enterprise Dr.
Shelton, CT 06484.

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