Selecting MPLS VPN Services

This chapter looked at some of the concepts you must consider when assessing service providers that may be supplying a VPN service for an enterprise WAN. These issues broadly fall into two categoriestechnical and nontechnical.

The technical issues covered are as follows:

• IP footprint and location of IP transfer points

• Transparency of QoS service and SP classes of service

• Transparency of multicast service

• Transparency of routing protocol support

• Method of supporting IPv6

The nontechnical issues covered are as follows:

• Financial stability

• Experience with delivering Layer 3 services

• Commitment to the VPN service

• SLA negotiation and reporting

Appendix A lists more-specific questions you might ask when constructing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for providers to bid on.