On Sun, 2007-09-30 at 11:40 +0930, Mark Smith wrote: > The model we're talking about seems to me to be that old model on > it's head. The devices at the edge of the core network are fully aware > of the underlying topology of the core network so they can make > informed forwarding decisions. The tunnelling encapsulation only serves > the purpose of transporting protocols/payloads, that aren't native in > the core, from edge-to-edge. The tunnelling function doesn't try to > control or have to take responsibility for the selecting paths taken > across the core.
This is just is a slight move of the core/edge boundary. Core switching capabilities (MPLS) have been added to edge devices which were pure terminal-devices from an ATM-perspective. The MPLS-cloud is just as obscure as ATM to a non-MPLS-speaking IP-device. //per
