> 1. Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)--L2 service that emulates LAN > across an IP and an MPLS-enabled IP network, allowing standard > Ethernet devices communicate with each other as if they were > connected to a common LAN segment. I do not believe this is a technically reasonable goal. if even switched Ethernets do not work right for multicast (which, remember, is essential for IPv6) how do you expect tunneled and routed Ethernet to work right? and don't tell me you want the routers to snoop for multicast join/leave messages -- that's just too broken. Now, if you want to define a pseudo-L2 service that uses Ethernet hardware and framing as a substrate, but has explicit L2 multicast control, that might be worth considering. But don't make it just for tunneling L2 over IP networks, design it so it can be a truly general-purpose means of gaining access to the Internet over an Ethernet - replacing PPPoE and other kludges. Really, we need a plug-and-play way by which hosts can figure out how to connect to the Internet and authenticate themselves, one that gives each host the address and connectivity it's supposed to have independently (within reason) of where it's plugged in to the network, and one that would be general enough for every network to use instead of this hodgepodge of DHCP/PPP/etc.