Which Companies Would Benefit from a Change to MPLS?

Written by: Dennis Green - Jan 8, 2009

All companies which have two or more locations that need to communicate with each other would benefit from the use of an MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) network. Here are some specific examples:

Does your company use the public telephone network for calls between company locations? Does this consume a significant portion of the company budget? With an MPLS network, all per minute costs associated with locations within the network can be eliminated by including these calls over a private MPLS network. With MPLS, an employee can reach any location on the network by simply dialing a four digit number. These calls are virtually free.

Does your company use video conferencing or does it plan to begin using video conferencing to save travel time for meetings and/or to facilitate better access to important meetings? Because MPLS provides any-to-any location access, all locations can be included in important video conferencing, and meetings can originate from any location on the network. Also, with the class of service provided by an MPLS network, the video signal is optimized.

Has the network of your company grown incrementally, as needed over time? Although this is a fairly common approach, it often results in a network which is patched together with the involvement of a variety of telecom providers and incompatible technologies. In this type of scenario, various telecom providers may have been chosen, based on their geographic specialties, or because they offered the best price for a specific location at the time they were chosen, rather than based on their compatibility with the customer’s network. Although, patching a network together as it grows may have been a prudent option as the network was growing, a patched together network carries with it many costs, some hidden, and some very obvious. It is a huge challenge for companies to encourage telecom providers to cooperate or coordinate with other providers involved in the same network. Also, networks that are based on incompatible or obsolete technologies require extremely high maintenance. Not only does this type of network result in less than optimal performance, it also is extremely expensive to maintain.

Now, these companies can bring in a state-of-the-art, fully managed MPLS network for virtually no cost. MPLS networks are often installed for free, provided by a single provider with one point of contact and one bill, are completely managed in that all equipment (such as routers) is provided and configured by the provider, monitored twenty four hours a day, and maintained completely by the provider.

Is redundancy a concern regarding your current network? If the hub of your current network goes down, will it disable your entire network? MPLS provides any-to-any connectivity. With MPLS, if one location of your network should go down, all other locations will still be in operation. Also, because of this any-to-any connectivity, any location on your network can be used for storage of back-up data. This will ensure access to this data should your headquarters be effected by a natural disaster.

Does your existing network often require costly capital investments for equipment upgrades? MPLS networks remove all concerns about capital investments and equipment obsolescence. If components wear out or become obsolete, they are simply replaced for free by the provider.

Is the budget of your company constantly strained by enlarged IT staffing and emergency maintenance provided by overworked IT staff? MPLS networks are virtually turn-key. All installation, configuration, monitoring, equipment replacement, and maintenance are provided by the telecom provider. This allows your IT staff to focus on proactive projects which will benefit the internal operations of your company.

Is the cost of the bandwidth used by your existing network putting a strain on your company budget? In most cases, the bandwidth provided with your MPLS network, will be much higher, but cost less money, then your current network.

Are you concerned that as your company grows, your MPLS network may eventually become a patched together network? Not likely. Now, major providers of MPLS are available to virtually all location in the US, and most locations around the world. This alleviates the concern about having to turn to different providers for some remote locations of your network. Also, because MPLS configurations are self-contained, you can add new locations to your network without having to reconfigure existing locations. When a new location is added, it simply appears as an additional address to the locations of your existing network.

Does your existing network consist of a series of point-to-point circuits? With MPLS, point-to-point circuits become obsolete. Because MPLS is provided within the closed network of the telecom provider, and is not carried across the public internet, it is as secure, or, more secure than point-to-point circuits. MPLS networks are also usually far less expensive than a network based on a series of point-to-point circuits. This is because with point-to-point, you must pay for the distance between each of many circuits. With MPLS, there is no charge for the distance between locations. Point-to-point circuits do not include routers, or the management of routers. As mentioned above, with MPLS, the routers are included and managed by the provider. MPLS is far more capable of facilitating converged technologies. With class of service, MPLS networks can accommodate all applications, such as VoIP, video conferencing, and/or routine data transfer over one bandwidth pipe. MPLS networks can utilize a far greater selection of bandwidths at each location of the network, and are far more scaleable than point-to-point. With MPLS, at any given location, you can utilize T1, any combination of bonded T1 (from 3 megabits per second (mbps) to 12 mbps, fractional T3 (DS3), full ds3, or OC3. With point-to-point, your only choices within this range are t1, ds3 (the equivalent of 28 t1s) or OC3. With an MPLS network, any location on the network can scale up in bandwidth at any time.

In limited situations, point-to-point circuits may have advantages over MPLS networks. For example, if there are only two locations in the network, and they are within very close proximity to each other so that the cost of distance between will not be a major factor, and the customer wants to manage their own network, and supply and configure their own equipment, then point-to-point might be the preferred choice.

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