What is Multiprotocol Label Switching?

What is Multiprotocol Label Switching?

What is Multiprotocol Label Switching?

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According to Whatis.com:

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a standards-approved technology for speeding up network traffic flow and making it easier to manage. MPLS involves setting up a specific path for a given sequence of packets, identified by a label put in each packet, thus saving the time needed for a router to look up the address to the next node to forward the packet to. MPLS is called multiprotocol because it works with the Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM), and frame relay network protocols.

For more information, read the full definition of MPLS, then check out the resources in our MPLS crash course.

This was first published in April 2007