MPLS-TP is the product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) / International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport Profile within the IETF MPLS and PWE3 architectures to support the capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network.
It will offer a dedicated MPLS implementation by removing features that are not relevant to CO-PS applications and adding mechanisms that provide support of critical transport functionality.
MPLS-TP is a low cost L2.5 technology (if the limited profile to be specified is implemented in isolation) that provides QoS, end-to-end OA&M and protection switching.
ITU-T in turn will update the existing T-MPLS standards[2] based on the MPLS-TP related RFCs listed below.
The following IETF RFCs or drafts exist for MPLS-TP: The solutions for the above requirements and framework are as mentioned below and is under development:[13]