MPLS VERSUS CARRIER ETHERNET 7 REASONS WHY ETHERNET IS AN ECONOMICAL ALTERNATIVE

Transcription

1 MPLS VERSUS CARRIER ETHERNET 7 REASONS WHY ETHERNET IS AN

2 SUMMARY The telecom marketplace is a fragmented one. It s difficult to understand what options are available and which service is the most economical to select in order to connect a site to your network. For the longest time, businesses both small and large, have insisted that their WAN services be delivered exclusively on an MPLS network. Though MPLS has been a reliable technology for the past decade, its reliability is based on accessing data from site-to-site, not remotely or through the cloud. When you add in these additional services, the costs go up. This Buyer s Guide provides an executive overview of how IT decision-makers can look for cost effective options when upgrading their communications, data storage, or other critical aspects of the business and how Carrier Ethernet is a viable option to consider.

3 ARE YOUR MPLS FEES DISRUPTING YOUR IT DEPARTMENT S BUDGET? DON T WORRY. WE HEAR IT A LOT!

4 IT EXECS, NETWORKS MANGERS, IT ADMINISTRATORS, AND EVEN A FEW IT SUPPORT TECHS ALL SAY SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THIS. THE COMPANY I WORK FOR HAS A CORPORATE LOCATION AND SEVERAL REMOTE SITES THAT ALL CONNECT BACK TO CORPORATE OVER MPLS LINES THAT ARE CRAZY EXPENSIVE. I NEED TO LOOK AT AN PRICE ALTERNATIVE. WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS? TYPICAL IT DIRECTOR/MANAGER

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. What is MPLS? 2. What Is Carrier Ethernet? 3. Side-by-Side Comparison 4. Ethernet Benefits Bandwidth Control Cost Data Security Low Latency Cloud Application QoS 5. Use Case Example 6. Conclusion

6 MPLS: WHAT IS IT? YESTERDAY S ROUTING COMMUNITY

7 MPLS: YESTERDAY S ROUTING COMMUNITY Multi-protocol Label Switching, otherwise known as MPLS, is widely known for its highperformance data carrying capability within the telecommunication industry. Relying on short path labels, MPLS is a standard protocol technique that the telecom folks use for speeding up and shaping network traffic flows. Because of its usefulness, it has been widely adopted by high-quality managed wide area networks (WANs). As a result, equipment suppliers can sell routers to enterprise businesses as well as service providers who build a virtual private network (VPNs) based on the connections MPLS offers. But like all good things, endings are inevitable. Though MPLS has been a reliable technology, it s only a reliable technology if your information isn t being accessed remotely or through the cloud. And attempting to access a network from a remote region adds significant cost to a company s IT budget and resources.

8 WHAT IS CARRIER ETHERNET? TOMORROW S ROUTING COMMUNITY

9 CARRIER ETHERNET: TOMORROW S ROUTING COMMUNITY Traffic patterns are changing. From cloud services to dwindling corporate data centers, network users are retrieving their data from everywhere. They need it and your business needs it. So, how do you go about getting it? As an MPLS alternative, Carrier Ethernet Services have taken center stage. Carrier Ethernet is the use of high-bandwidth Ethernet technology for Internet access and for communication among business, academic, and government local area networks (LANs). Carrier Ethernet circumvents bandwidth bottlenecks that can occur when a large number of small networks are connected to a single larger network. Compared to the traditional leased-line or MPLS circuits and because of its dynamic architecture, Carrier Ethernet can meet many of the enterprise WAN requirements at a much lower cost. It s also easier to manage and is adaptable for today s high-bandwidth applications.

10 MPLS VS ETHERNET SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON

11 MPLS VS CARRIER ETHERNET: SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON A couple of years ago the prospect of replacing an MPLS connection with a private layer-2 Carrier Ethernet Service would make many networking professionals laugh. Until now. Typically MPLS or Carrier Ethernet services are a businesses two connectivity options. Today, depending on where your organization needs to connect to such as a remote office, your headquarters, or perhaps to a backup site at a branch certain WAN connectivity options are better than others. To help, we ve created a side-by-side comparison of each option.

12 SIDE-BY-SIDE MPLS VS ETHERNET COMPARISON

13 MPLS VS CARRIER ETHERNET: SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISON From the side-by-side comparison, it s easy to see why many enterprise businesses and ISPs are having trouble saying no to Carrier Ethernet Services. One of the main benefits of using this type of connection versus an MPLS is that you receive a higher level of bandwidth than traditional WAN services for a fraction of the cost and it offers low-latency and high throughput, which is ideal for disaster recovery.

14 ETHERNET BENEFITS BANDWIDTH

15 ETHERNET BENEFITS: BANDWIDTH Is your Internet cutting out and causing frustration? Slow connections aren t just frustrating; they drain productivity and profitability from your company s bottom line. Having hundreds of employees on your business Internet can often lead to a slower connection. But with the surge of digital services, your business operations need to run efficiently. It may be time to upgrade your organization s bandwidth if you notice any of these signs. 1. Web pages load slowly 2. Downloads don t fully complete 3. boxes do not finish synchronizing 4. Web forms submitted don t successfully send The list goes on To keep up your business operations may need a boost. Make the upgrade to your business bandwidth a natural progression. Why? Because improving your business s Internet bandwidths are an investment in your company s performance and resources. Carrier Ethernet is a must-have option for expanding bandwidth demands in a cost-effective manner.

16 ETHERNET BENEFITS CONTROL

17 ETHERNET BENEFITS: CONTROL IT Managers looking to gain more insight and control over their network can rely on standards from full endto-end service level agreements (SLAs) over the entire service path that enables them to monitor their traffic from endpoint-to-endpoint.

18 ETHERNET BENEFITS COST

19 ETHERNET BENEFITS: COST The price for Carrier Ethernet connectivity is considerably lower than almost any WAN MPLS service, making it a desirable choice for companies seeking to cut telecom costs. In fact, Carrier Ethernet offers a lower price point per Mbps when compared to its stepsister MPLS. Ranging from $50- $150 per Mbps per month including voice, versus its sibling MPLS, which runs from $75-$200 per Mbps per month, going with the Carrier Ethernet option increases your value for high bandwidth connectivity for data centers or services.

20 ETHERNET BENEFITS SECURITY

21 ETHERNET BENEFITS: SECURITY Combine the power of fully meshed global fiber network with Ethernet network services to transmit your business-critical data with confidence so it s not traversing the public Internet. For added security, you can even combine your Internet, Cloud Exchange, and Data Center connections with into one solution with our One Pipe Multi-Connect.

22 ETHERNET BENEFITS LATENCY

23 ETHERNET BENEFITS: LATENCY Combine the power of fully meshed global fiber network with Ethernet network services to transmit your business-critical data with confidence so it s not traversing the public Internet. For added security, you can even combine your Internet, Cloud Exchange, and Data Center connections with into one solution with our One Pipe Multi-Connect.

24 ETHERNET BENEFITS CLOUD APPLICATION

25 ETHERNET BENEFITS: CLOUD APPLICATION Cloud-based systems are often used by Enterprise companies to transport data. Carrier Ethernet has emerged as the preferred option to utilize with cloud computing technology.

26 ETHERNET BENEFITS QOS

27 ETHERNET BENEFITS: QOS Carrier Ethernet allows the quality of service definition to manage priority traffic, getting the right packets where they need to be when they need to be there.

28 UTILIZING OUR SERVICE ONE PIPE MULTI- CONNECT IN PLAY

29 UTILIZING CARRIER ETHERNET Many companies come to us looking for help solving their network performance and connectivity dilemmas. Examples of network issues are: Latency Issues Security Risks Expensive MPLS or VPN setups Accessing Information or software between sites Access to locations across the country or overseas like PacRim Asia Because Massive Networks is able to mitigate these issues, many of the solutions that the Massive s NOC team suggests can be integrated into phases as a company s contract expires with another model. The Massive Networks solutions to network issues include integrating services like: Cloud Exchange Connect Data Center Connect MegaLAN or GigaLAN Connect VoIP Connect SaaS Connect IaaS Connect Any Connect Your Need

30 USE CASE SCENARIO SAAS

31 USE CASE SCENARIO: SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE Located in the heart of the technology center in Louisville, Colorado, Medamorph is an endto-end automated solution provider to the medical industry. Their Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution has helped hundreds of medical companies automate the patient and EMR documentation process. CHALLENGES 1. Sharing Patient and EMR records through a layer-3 network made abiding by HIPAA compliance difficult; each office was an island unto itself. 2. Poor latency issues. The performance was limited to 100MS. 3. Utilizing a VPN, Medamorph incurred speed overhead with complicated connection issues and expensive bandwidth usage costs.

32 USE CASE SCENARIO: SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE SECURITY RISK & PERFORMANCE ISSUES Medamorph had trouble sharing patient and EMR records between sites. Due to latency issues between offices, their Internet performance was slow. Our NOC experts determined that their MPLS setup from office-to-office through the public Internet was the direct cause of the high latency times. Additionally, everything that was transferred through the public Internet was a security risk which would dramatically affect HIPAA Compliance regulations and place their critical-business data in jeopardy.

33 CONNECTIVITY CRITERIA: STAFF EXPECTATIONS The Senior Enterprise IT Consultant for Medamorph, John Dougherty has to expectations. They were: 1. Facilitating the current interconnectivity and providing existing value were the primary criteria we had in mind. 2. Secondary considerations were the ability to grow, adapt, deploy, and support.

34 SOLUTION OVERVIEW Our team of technical engineers, solved the problem by configuring their business network into a private line solution. Because our Private Network Transport Connect is based on ethernet connections, the configuration eliminates security risk as well as latency issues subsequently improving their performance speed, connectivity, and reliability. Additionally, Medamorph was setup with a new switch from our Massive Denver point of presence POP creating a redundant fiber ring route and VLAN that connects everything together. By connecting their network through our Denver POP, Medamorph gained geographic redundancy from 100meg to 10gig speeds and they no longer pay an exorbitant amount of money to maintain their MPLS system.

35 SUMMARY OF ETHERNET IMPLEMENTATION By moving into one of the Massive Data Centers, Medamorph gained backup speeds from 100meg to 10gig and removed their risky exposure to the public Internet.

36 MPLS VS ETHERNET CONCLUSION

37 CONCLUSION In today s workspace, flexibility matters. Carrier Ethernet offers scalable bandwidth options for enterprises looking to jump between 10, 100, or even 1000 Mbps. These adjustments can be customized based on your company s needs using software-defined applications at the Network Operations Center (NOC) without a service provider needing to make a site visit. Its customization at it s finest! In summary, if you re in the market for enterprise communication applications or big data management services, keep Carrier Ethernet in mind as your preferred connectivity option. It s a phenomenal alternative to high-cost MPLS and VPN services. When selecting an Ethernet Service Provider, you ll want to make sure that their services include: 1. Dedicated Ethernet connections which do not traverse the public Internet 2. VLAN-based connectivity that combines voice, data, cloud services on a single handoff to each of your locations 3. Creative configurations and topologies 4. Quality of Service (QOS) prioritization by VLAN, packet type or destination 5. Reliable and secure data transport

38 ABOUT MASSIVE NETWORKS Massive Networks Mission Massive Networks mission is simple. To help your business operate seamlessly with fast, reliable, and secure internet and network solutions. How We Fulfill Our Promise As a premier telecommunications provider, Massive Networks is headquartered out of Louisville, Colorado. With years of experience under our belt, our team of engineers can navigate the Carrier Ecosystem for your IT team acting as an extension of your business, producing a hassle-free experience. Because Massive Networks offers enterprise-class data transport solutions that extend across the entire US and to 181 countries worldwide, our blended managed network can deliver high-speed Internet and private line connections to 1.7 million fiber-lit buildings, data centers, and cloud providers nationwide. Our Solution Sets: 1. One Pipe Multi-Connect 2. Managed Network Services Within our solution sets, we build custom designed networks for each customer using our blended network approach of Layer 2 and Layer 3 network technologies. As a result, this revolutionary technology design offers customers multiple and dynamic streams of data through a single pipe, providing superior performance and value from bandwidth intensive services like voice, data, web services, video, and backups all on a single handoff from our fiber backbone. Who We Work With Providing NNI (Network to Network Interface) to dozens of national carriers and Direct Peering Exchanges with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Office 365, and more. For more information, contact Massive Networks, a Private Line Carrier Ethernet Service and Managed Network Provider.

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