Survey respondents see benefits in MPLS VPNs

VPNs based on Multi-protocol Label Switching are becoming more popular and a recent survey indicates that that trend will continue.

Called the “2004 MPLS-Based IP VPNs Survey,” the study is based on the responses of people who came to the Webtorials technology site, found the survey and filled it out.

It’s not scientific, but it does show at least an interest in and awareness of the technology and gives a good outline of what are perceived as the pros and cons of MPLS VPNs.

MPLS VPNs are generally established across service provider networks that enable fully meshed networks using a single access connection and without having to set up virtual circuits among all sites. Traffic is routed to any site via MPLS switching in the network.

Eve though it is a self-selecting survey, the responses give a good overview of MPLS issues that potential customers of these services might want to consider.

For instance, the survey ranks from high to low the reasons people want MPLS VPNs. Whether the results reflect the actual high to low ranking among those who might buy such services, they nevertheless reveal a range of benefits customers might want to consider. These include better quality of service, better support for IP based services such as VoIP, the ease of creating a meshed network and the ease of configuring other topologies such as hub and spoke.

Some drawbacks are the lack of troubleshooting tools, global MPLS networks and management features, plus difficulties in migrating from other services.

While the survey might not be statistically significant, it does offer a body of discussion about the technology that potential customers could find useful.