Whatever the relative technical merits of MPLS/BGP VPNs over other layer 3 VPNs (GRE, IPsec, L2TP etc) there are many service providers around the world selling these services. There is clearly a business need for them, and obviously customers how will buy them (well, we have managed to sell them anyway!), so there is an economic reason to deploy MPLS. Layer 2 based LAN extension services will only extend this market further and again uses MPLS as its base transport mechanism. Matt. -----Original Message----- From: Shannon Lake [mailto:shannon@omnivergent.com] Sent: 01 October 2002 08:26 To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: Economic Justification / Rationale for MPLS Ladies and Gentlemen: I have been conducting research looking for the economic justification for MPLS. I have some feedback, but sound rationale from the industry has eluded me thus far. I am looking for a paper, website, etc that explains the benefits of implementing MPLS (other than technical) or gives some economic modeling for MPLS-based networks. Any help, reasoning, rationale or personal insights/views would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Shannon M. Lake Sr. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Life in Broadband www.telewest.co.uk The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Statements and opinions expressed in this e-mail may not represent those of the company. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete the material from any computer. ==============================================================================