1Evolution of Multi-Protocol Label Switching _____________________________________________________________________________________

Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is rapidly emerging as an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard intended to enhance the speed, scalability and service provisioning capabilities in the Internet. MPLS uses the technique of packet forwarding based on labels, to enable the implementation of a simpler high-performance packet forwarding engine. This also de-couples packet for-warding from routing, facilitating to provide varied routing services independent of the packet forwarding paradigm. We briefly track the evolution of this technology in re-lation to other existing technologies. Then an overview of the MPLS architecture and design is provided. In addition, some of the work that was a precursor to MPLS is dis-cussed, as well as related issues and debates. I