MPLS vs ATM vs legacy switching guys....

back when I started preparing for my ccip. the first exam and training I attended relevant to the certification was MPLS. it was an intense two week course and the instructor took almost a whole week on ATM/cell-mode/cell switching and generally telling us how important it was to fully understand ATM including popular hardware that supported it. Boy am I glad I paid attention, and that course is paying up big time.

Today I find myself in an interesting position. My employer is jumping headlong in the mpls bandwagon at the core (various departments run mpls for their own little' networks:-))...being a telco you can imagine the fear the 'old school' C7/ss7/ATM legacy type switching guys bring to our meetings. If any one there has gone through this transitions please tell me how you went about re-assuring them that apart from some added complexities:-) life moves on.....

either way Africa and some parts of Asia will probably be the last frontier for any vendor that hasn't managed to penetrate the US and european markets at the core. We have them all cisco,juniper,Huawei,alcatel,ECI etc etc to evaluate..some make it very easy to knock off...I can see at least 3 that will require a little bit of work..

Either way the traditional telco vendor's with their closed model of working centered around the operators is definately coming to an end. The focus is slowly turning to the customer/employee and their needs....fun fun stuff...oh I also see a post on a similar issue over at http://networkers-online.com/blog/2009/12/cisco-or-juniper-which-one-should-i-choose/