Service providers worldwide are looking to IP VPN technologies as a vehicle for effectively offering managed VPN services for their customers' convergent service requirements. MPLS has gained wide acceptance in the service-provider community as a highly scalable and effective technology for deployment of IP VPN services. Currently service providers spend at an average of 40 percent of their total cost of ownership year to year on ongoing operations and maintenance. A sophisticated service-management application that can reduce these costs is highly desirable. The MPLS solution is a network and service- level management solution that enables service providers to effectively deploy and manage MPLS VPN services.
Operators can add, delete, or modify customer VPNs.
In addition, they can easily set up extranet relationships. Templates are then converted into the appropriate Cisco IOS software commands, which then are scheduled and downloaded to the network. When a new service or service change is entered, users have the ability to schedule the service activation time, enabling the service provider to make arrangements for hardware delivery or for other steps required prior to activation of the service. Elements are tested to ensure successful delivery of the commands. When activated, services can be tested to ensure reliable delivery of the service.