From ATM/ISDN to MPLS - Transition of the Columbus Igs Network
Stefan Maly · SpaceOps 2010 Conference · 2010
The Columbus Interconnection Ground Subnet (IGS) is a worldwide network that connects various control centers, operations centers and support centers across Europe, the US and Russia.The network had been originally designed using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as the primary network technology for permanent service locations and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) for on demand communication locations.The global providers begin to migrate away from ATM as their premier service platform.This tendency is driven by the relatively high cost for ATM lines and equipment as well as by the rising number of IP applications using the networks, with IP being a protocol that does not necessarily require an underlying ATM transport infrastructure.The opportunity to save costs, while at the same time eliminating the dial on demand part of the IGS network, was the driver for a network migration project, which the IGS team at the Columbus Control center carried out.The transition from ATM to MPLS is being described in this paper.