WHAT IS VPLS?

VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service) is called Virtual private local network service. VPLS is generally an architecture that reaches from any one to any other with virtual connections within a switched environment.

VPLS performs the same functionality as a LAN over a wide area network. With VPLS, the enterprise has Ethernet access to a VPLS provider’s segment router, which wraps an Ethernet Frame inside the MPLS and routes the packet to the appropriate, outbound interface across the communications network. In short, VPLS transports the Ethernet Frame, as MPLS, across the communication network. Each customer edge (customer edge-CE) device connects to a provider edge-PE router, which looks up the destination Ethernet address and adds a virtual channel label to the packet. Packets are routed through the MPLS network via MPLS Label Switched Routers to the PE router at the other end.

VPLS offers all the benefits of Ethernet, allowing businesses to scale bandwidth from megabits to gigabits. Because the hardware is easy to retrofit, bandwidth requirements can be met quickly. Scaling to a higher speed service can be easy with a small modification to existing hardware.