The ATM Forum and the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance announced that their respective memberships have approved the merger of the two organizations. The merger will consolidate the groups and leverage the strengths of each in addressing next generation, multi-protocol, packet-based networks.
The goal of the combined entity, which will be known as the MFA Forum, will be to advance the recognition, acceptance and implementation of packet technologies in the global networking communications industry.
The board of directors of the MFA Forum will include Bernard da Costa, Bell Canada; Joe Kimball, Sprint; Gary Leonard, Riverstone Networks; Andrew Malis, Tellabs; Doug O'Leary, Verizon; John Rutemiller, Marconi; Ananda Sen Gupta, Agilent Technologies; David Sinicrope, Ericsson; Tom Walsh, Lucent Technologies; Rick Wilder, Alcatel.
The ATM Forum and the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance Technical Committees will continue previously established projects, operating as Working Groups under a unified Technical Committee. A joint Interoperability Working Group will oversee the organization's test and interoperability efforts to promote seamless interworking between ATM, MPLS and Frame Relay networks.
"The ATM Forum is entering this new phase having achieved what it set out to do," said Marlis Humphrey of Harris Corporation, chairman of the board, The ATM Forum. "In carrier networks throughout the world, ATM is now an embedded, reliable and secure technology that continues to deliver on the promise of security and flexibility in delivering the Quality of Service guarantees it was designed for. We look forward to the enhanced collaboration and synergies that this merger will bring to developing the interworking standards necessary for the deployment of next generation, converged packet networks."
"As a merged entity, the MFA Forum will represent the industry's technology innovators in MPLS, ATM and Frame Relay," said Andrew G. Malis of Tellabs, president and chairman of the board of the MPLS & Frame Relay Alliance. "We look forward to building on the successes the two groups have had over the years and expect our collaborative technical efforts to bear fruit immediately."http://www.atmforum.com/http://www.mplsforum.org/
- In 2003, The Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Forum merged with the Frame Relay Forum (FRF). The MPLS Forum was formed in March 2000. The Frame Relay Forum was incorporated in May 1991.
- The ATM Forum was founded in 1991 and has developed over 200 interoperability specifications.
