PRESS RELEASES
MPLS Networks a Mystery to SME's (01-Dec-2004)
Market research released today by IZR Solutions, one of the UK’s fastest growing broadband business ISPs, indicates that the anticipated transition from traditional networks to next generation MPLS networks has not been adopted as widely as expected.
Contrary to current market predictions by BT, the survey from IZR Solutions (which targeted 1000 SMEs with 250+ employees located across multiple sites) suggests that IT managers at have not yet understood nor harnessed the full benefits of MPLS technology.
In fact less than half (49.5%) of IT managers responded that they had heard of MPLS, and only one in four respondents (26%) have adopted the technology as standard. Perhaps more surprisingly, just a quarter of IT managers (24%) have plans to use MPLS technology in the future, with 42% denying a need it at all.
Stuart Shearing, IZR Business Development Director responsible for this market research, argues that the slow uptake of the MPLS technologies may result from a poor appreciation of technical and economic benefits available.
"The benefits of MPLS far outweigh any other network technologies available at the moment," said Stuart Shearing. “Surprisingly, a major hurdle is widespread confusion over the technology and its applications. 8.5% of those surveyed were unaware that the technology they are using is MPLS”
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) defines a mechanism for packet forwarding in network routers. It was originally developed to provide faster packet forwarding than traditional IP routing. The flexibility of MPLS has led to it becoming the default way for modern networks to achieve Quality of Service (QoS), next generation VPN services, and optical signalling. www.izrsolutions.com