Scalability aspects of centralized control of MPLS access/aggregation network.

We apply the concept of centralized control to the MPLS access/aggregation network segment of service provider networks. We describe a numerical model to capture the scale and scope of the access/aggregation network and explain the corresponding scalability issues. We compare this numerical model to the experimental results obtained on a test-bed with OpenFlow 1.1 compatible central controller and forwarding elements. We show that the central controller implementation we have mostly matches the performance requirements of the access/aggregation networks for different scenarios.