[LINK] NBN layer 3 services

[Richard Chirgwin]

David Lochrin wrote:
> On Friday 11 December 2009 14:57, stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
>   
>> Any Linker opinions?
>>
>> NBN Co down the wrong path: Cisco 
>> [...] 
>> Mr Bloch's criticism centred on the NBN Co's choice, revealed early 
>> yesterday, to build the network around a standard G-PON (Gigabit-capable 
>> Passive Optical Network), which lack technical smarts for routing data 
>> called "layer 3" services.
>>     
>
> He wouldn't be worried that Cisco are losing the opportunity to impose a massive MPLS network on every NBN user would he?
>
> A G-PON seems like a wise choice because at least the basic network is ~simple~ and therefore reliable.  The deeper the common end-user protocol stack which is layered upon it the more complex it becomes, with potentially greater risks for massive stuffups, not to mention the technology lockin to Cisco.
>
> It's still far cheaper for Optus et al to build their own layer-3 networks on the NBN than to compete using infrastructure owned by Telstra, and there's the additional advantage of diversity.
>
> Last time I looked, admittedly some years ago, MPLS was still a Cisco proprietary mystery which seemed to consist of a number of familiar protocols integrated together in some unstated fashion.  How it behaved during transient fault conditions was not obvious, at least to me.
>   
David,

Although Cisco is notorious for proprietary *implementations*, MPLS is 
not a proprietary protocol. It's widely supported in the top tier of 
vendors (Alcatel, Nortel, Juniper as well as Cisco).

But I think it's better to have the NBNCo network neutral to upper-layer 
protocols.

RC
> David
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