IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings

Now, in steps Nortel and PBB/PBT.  The argument of reversing the trend of reinvented signaling protocols and forwarding schemas to return to a world of relative simplicity -- especially in the core :)  Who needs MPLS and all of its complexity, problems and headaches?!

I think the presence of large-scale Ethernet WAN infrastructures is inevitable in order to satisfy the demand reported by every analyst worth their salt.  But the larger questions are how will those Ethernet WANs be built (PBB/PBT, T-MPLS, IP/MPLS) and whether or not other infrastructures will be folded into them or converged.  Infonetics noted that the largest project being undertaken in 2007 by service providers surveyed was the convergence of networks to a single IP/MPLS infrastructure.  So with the added momentum of Ethernet, does this mean that it should get in line with ATM/FR, VOICE and eventually Sonet/SDH for integration to a single IP/MPLS infrastructure OR does this mean that we need to step back and rethink the premise of consolidating at the IP layer and possibly consolidate at the Ethernet layer??

Which brings me back to Nortel (and Ericsson, and Siemens.. ) and PBB/PBT.  I think the jury is still out, though I am still firmly in the camp of consolidation to IP/MPLS and not rebuilding a new common infrastructure.  I think there are still many unanswered questions that exist before I would suggest a change in course.  I don't discount Ottawa's arguments of simplicity and economics.   I think we just need a little more time to understand them better, along with the long-term implications.  We should also not require an all or nothing approach to answering these questions.  It may be that a combination of Layer-2 and Layer-3 in different areas of the network that may be a suitable path forward, even when providing a common service!  

In the end.. its the progression from fixed-channel to packet switching that matters to me most.  We'll see how the Road to Packet gets paved.. as its still a work in progress.