{"id":1272,"date":"2013-12-04T15:30:33","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T15:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/multiprotocol-label-switching\/"},"modified":"2017-01-23T14:20:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T14:20:42","slug":"multiprotocol-label-switching","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls","title":{"rendered":"Multiprotocol Label Switching"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_multiprotocol_label_switching_mean\">What Does Multiprotocol Label Switching Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is a mechanism used within computer network infrastructures to speed up the time it takes a data packet to flow from one node to another. It enables computer networks to be faster and easier to manage by using short path labels instead of long network addresses for routing network packets.\n<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_multiprotocol_label_switching\">Techopedia Explains Multiprotocol Label Switching<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>MPLS primarily implements and uses labels for making routing decisions. The label-based switching mechanism enables the network packets to flow on any protocol. MPLS operates by assigning a unique label or identifier to each network packet. The label consists of the routing table information, such as the destination IP address, bandwidth and other factors as well as source IP and socket information. The router can refer only to the label to make the routing decision rather than looking into the packet. MPLS supports IP, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), frame relay, Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) and Ethernet-based networks. MPLS is designed to be used on both packet-switched networks and circuit-switched networks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Multiprotocol Label Switching Mean? Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is a mechanism used within computer network infrastructures to speed up the time it takes a data packet to flow from one node to another. It enables computer networks to be faster and easier to manage by using short path labels instead of long network [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[219],"class_list":["post-1272","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-networks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Multiprotocol Label Switching and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Multiprotocol Label Switching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Multiprotocol Label Switching and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-23T14:20:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Multiprotocol Label Switching\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-12-04T15:30:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-23T14:20:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls\"},\"wordCount\":178,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/527\/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls\",\"name\":\"What is Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)? 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