Abstract
Multi-protocol label switching is helpful in managing multimedia traffic when some links or paths are under and/or over utilized. This paper presents a comparative analysis of MPLS and non-MPLS network and shows that MPLS improved network performance for multimedia type applications in heavy traffic environments. Traffic engineering is the main strength of MPLS. Where an IP-based network is connectionless, MPLS based network defines definite paths for network traffic based on some quality of service level. The following simulation study is an effort to quantitatively illustrate the benefit of using MPLS in implementing multimedia applications