RE: Optical Link Interface

[Vijay Gill <vijay@umbc.edu>]

On Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Kireeti Kompella wrote:

> CR-LDP) which is just an extension of LMP (read LDP) which nobody
> needs anyway (read "TE is the only MPLS app").  Such is life ...
>
> > The (I)SPs
> > that deployed it did not have a choice from their vendors.
>
> Guilty as charged.  We gave them black model Ts, and they liked them.
> They didn't ask for any other colors, and aren't asking now, apart
> from idle curiosity.

Having been there in the middle of this, I can attest to it that if we
(the isp's selecting the signalling) felt that CR-LDP was a good enough
solution, we'd have asked our vendors for it. However, the protocol
evolution at the time was scary enough with so many cooks that the simple
and fairly straightforward RSVP-TE process was very appealing.

> > market prefers competing solutions to get the best of breed.
>
> All the ISP folks that I know who had to make a choice say that
> the process of choosing is mostly non-technical, and very much a
> big pain.

In general, best of breed solutions tend to invoke stupendous amounts of
pain as we try and integrate the backends.

> The data I have indicates that the market wants competing
> implementations of the same standard, not competing standards. That's
> where the real value of "best of breed" lies.

Precisely. Well said, Kireeti.


/vijay