Bandwidth to Support Convergence
Convergence means combining or converging voice, data and video
onto a single network. Enterprises usually need to expand their
LAN bandwidth and set up a QoS or Quality of Service priority
system to give priority to real-time streams such as telephone
calls or video conference feeds, which are more sensitive to network
delays than data transfers. Most often, the common protocol for
convergence is IP.
What are Typical Classes of Service?
Class of Services or CoS is established in MPLS networks to ensure the performance of each packet on the network. CoS classes include real time for voice and video, mission critical for time sensitive applications such as transaction processing, business critical for applications such as database access, and data for lower priority traffic that isn't time sensitive.
Why Type of Traffic Can MPLS Handle?
Because it's multi-protocol, MPLS networks can handle nearly any type of digital traffic you can generate including VoIP and TDM telephone, IP video, and packet data.
What is Latency?
It is the time delay in the network. In other words, how long it takes to get a packet from node to node. The lower limit is set by the speed of light, which equates to 1 msec per 186 miles in a vacuum.
MPLS Network Speeds
MPLS networks can run at any network speed and are being adopted by major carriers as the multipoint to multipoint technology of choice. For this reason, MPLS is fast replacing Frame Relay.