The MFA Forum, a nonprofit association of service providers, equipment vendors and enterprise users, is nearing completion on interoperability agreements addressing ATM and frame relay to MPLS Control Plane Interworking, as well as extensions to the ATM Signaling protocol to support high-speed connection greater than 7Gbps.
The MFA Forum expects a final implementation agreement on ATM and Frame Relay to MPLS Control Plane Interworking by the end of 2005.
The proposed agreement requires no changes to the existing ATM infrastructure; instead it would simplify migration from ATM to next-generation IP/MPLS-based packet networks. The MFA Forum says the agreement protects carrier investment in current services, and their revenue streams while enabling emerging IP applications and services.
Meanwhile, the forum’s High Speed Connection work project is aimed at accommodating data transfer between storage servers. High-end servers have the ability to push out 10Gbps; this implementation agreement would allow those servers to get the most from their 10G links when ATM is part of the network solution, the group says.
The MFA Forum recently was created after a merger of the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance and the ATM Forum. The group plans to focus on optimizing and interworking the three primary telecoms transport technologies – ATM, MPLS and frame relay – in a technical committee. The body also wants to represent the industry with a single voice, it says.
The newly merged body just held its first meeting in Canada.
