ORION engineers reached an important milestone when they finalized a major upgrade to the network's core architecture to fully support MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) across the entire ORION platform.

The process was finalized Nov. 27, with the MPLS configuration of ORION's northern segments, effectively completing the migration of the network's core platform to the latest routing and distribution technology.

"This is a very important milestone for ORION," says Senior Director of Engineering and Network Operation, Sam Mokbel. "ORION is now a fully hierarchical network equipped with latest core routers, supporting MPLS and other services."

The first phase involved the installation of Juniper Networks' new M120 routing equipment at ORION's Points of Presence (PoPs) in Peterborough, North Bay, Toronto and London.

The new gear supports next-generation Internet Protocol applications, including IPv6, MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching), QoS (Quality of Service) and circuit emulation.

"ORION is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world, and migrating to a new core routing and distribution architecture is relatively complex. It required significant planning and precision, while maintaining the core network availability during the phased implementation."

"This project required a lot of collaboration between our members, the vendors and our engineering team," says Mokbel.

"We are very proud of our team," says Mokbel, highlighting the many long nights and weekend work over the course of almost 18 months by ORION IP Network Engineers, Saqib Chughtai and Mansoor Khan, and Network Operations Engineer, Emmanuel Lebel.

The core routing upgrade was made possible with financial support from CANARIE, Canada's national advanced network organization.