MPLS backbone will let U.S. customers deploy IP-VPN services at the edge of their networks HANOVER, Germany — Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest telecommunications company, is extending its range of voice, video, and data services based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology to customers in the U.S., board member Konrad Reiss said Tuesday at a news conference here ahead of the Cebit trade show.T-Systems International GmbH, the global network infrastructure and IT systems integration subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is collaborating with Level 3 Communications Inc. to provide MPLS backbone network services to U.S. customers keen to operate IP-based VPNs (virtual private networks), Reiss said.Deutsche Telekom joins numerous service providers in Asia, Europe and North America implementing MPLS. The operators are deploying the technology not only to reduce their operating costs by integrating multiple networks onto a single converged core but, increasingly, to provide IP-VPN services at the edge of their networks as well. In another U.S.-driven deal, T-Systems has struck an agreement to provide customer authentication and billing services to Connexion by Boeing, a broadband wireless information service provider owned by The Boeing Co., according to Reiss. The deal will allow Connexion to focus on its core business of providing wireless LAN (WLAN) service in airplanes without having to worry about customer authentication and billing, he said.The deal with Connexion will also help Deutsche Telekom achieve its goal of offering seamless service to customers travelling between the two continents. The fixed-line and wireless units of the German telecommunications group are building WLAN networks across Europe and the U.S. Technology Industry