[LINK] NBN layer 3 services

[David Lochrin]

On Saturday 12 December 2009 09:20, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
> 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).

Being "widely supported" isn't quite the same thing as being a public-domain ITU standard.  Searching the RFC index for "MPLS" brings up 115 matches, the latest one being RFC 5704.  This begins:

QUOTE
This document identifies problems that may result from the absence of formal coordination and joint development on protocols of mutual interest between standards development organizations (SDOs).  Some of these problems may cause significant harm to the Internet.  The document suggests that a robust procedure is required prevent this from occurring in the future.  The IAB has selected a number of case studies, such as Transport MPLS (T-MPLS), as recent examples to describe the hazard to the Internet architecture that results from uncoordinated adaptation of a protocol.
UNQUOTE

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

I'm with you there (assuming you mean "transparent").

David