Overcoming Single Provider MPLS Limitations

Virtela Communications, Inc.+1.720.475.4445info@virtela.coma global network solutions company www.virtela.com
Overcoming Single Provider MPLS Limitations
Summary:
In this paper, Frost & Sullivan reviews the limitations associated with taking a single-provider approach to MPLS networks and its impact on the enterprise. They then examine Virtela's Global Service Fabric multi-carrier network approach and how it overcomes these limitations to provide a best-of-breed global MPLS network solution. Overcoming Single Provider MPLS Limitations

Introduction
Enterprises, regardless of size or industry, have concluded that network consolidation for some or all of their communication applications - voice, video, and several grades of data applications ranging from business critical to general Web surfing - onto a single network is inevitable. The reasons for this consolidation are straightforward. Multiple networks from multiple providers entail redundant and extensive cost components that can be reduced if fewer networks and providers are employed. Further adding to the rational to consolidate networks is that legacy networks lack the architectural flexibility, means to dynamically prioritize traffic flows, and higher bandwidth levels at economical rates that are needed to accommodate the constantly evolving, geographically disperse, and increasingly stringent and diverse enterprise communication requirements.
For enterprises that have made the decision to consolidate networks, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a leading technology choice for Wide Area Network (WAN) connections. Even so, an MPLS-enabled network is not the panacea for all enterprise WAN requirements. Why this is the case is not the MPLS technology itself, but the limitations associated with a single provider MPLS network deployment.
In this paper, Stratecast Partners will review the limitations associated with a single provider MPLS network and its impact on the enterprise. We will then examine the Global Service Fabric introduced by Virtela Communications (www.virtela.com) and describe how the unique attributes of Virtela's multi-provider network approach overcomes these limitations and provides a "best-of-breed" global MPLS network solution.
Limitations of a Single Provider MPLS Network
With a focus on attaining a best-of-breed network infrastructure, enterprise purchasers would select the network provider best positioned to meet the requirements for each application. In addition, with geographic reach being a major consideration for multinational corporations, multiple providers with denser networks in specific regions (e.g., U.S., Asia, or South America) would also be selected. Consequently, customer-provider relationships with multiple network providers, each with their own contracts, invoices, and customer support infrastructure, were established. While this was a justifiable approach when network technologies were tightly stratified by application, the validity of this approach is diminishing. The ability to prioritize network traffic based on Class of Service (CoS) designations position a MPLS network as an attractive alternative for consolidating many applications with differing performance requirements onto a single network. Even so, a single provider MPLS network has its limitations that weaken the potential value of network consolidation.
1? Availability - Enterprise business requirements, not network providers, determine which enterprise sites should be connected to a MPLS network. Yet, the deployment of a MPLS network is constrained by each network provider's business realities (e.g., restricted budgets, eroding financial margins, and on-going support of legacy networks), all of which prevent any network provider from creating a seamless and truly global MPLS network. As a result, no MPLS provider can justify building a MPLS network that reaches every conceivable enterprise site. Consequently for enterprises with global operations, several MPLS network providers would be required to deliver the optimal network coverage and performance (i.e., shortest local loops to a MPLS Point of Presence and most diverse routing) in each geographic region they operate.
Bridging this availability gap through a provider-led federation of interconnected MPLS networks is an alternative, but is unlikely. Again, the business realit... [download for more]