ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Multiprotocol Label Switching

Okay little one, let me explain what is 'multiprotocol label switching' in simple terms.

Imagine you are planning to go on a road trip with your family. You have a map with you, and you need to figure out the fastest way to get to your destination. You look at the roads and see there are multiple routes that you can take, but you want to find the quickest way possible.

In the same way, when different devices on the internet want to talk to each other, they need to find the quickest way possible. That's where multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) comes in. It is like a map that helps data packets travel across the internet.

MPLS is a technology used by internet providers to manage the flow of data across their network. It uses labels to identify and route data packets quickly and efficiently. The labels contain information about where the data should go and how it should be treated while it's on its journey.

Let's take an example to make this even simpler. Suppose you want to send a message to your friend who lives in another country. You type out the message and click 'send.' Your message gets broken down into smaller packets of data which travel across the internet to reach your friend.

Now imagine there are thousands of messages like yours going across the internet at the same time. It's like a traffic jam, and your message might get stuck behind other messages trying to reach your friend. MPLS helps to avoid these traffic jams by putting a label on each data packet so that it can be quickly and efficiently routed to its destination.

Think of the label as a street sign. Just like a street sign helps you navigate and reach your destination, the label on your data packet helps it travel through the internet and reach its destination as quickly as possible.

To sum it up, MPLS is like a map that helps data packets travel across the internet. It uses labels to quickly and efficiently route data packets to their destination. Just like a street sign helps you find your way, the label on a data packet helps it reach its destination on the internet in the fastest way possible.