CARRIERS SEEKING LOWER COSTS NOW CONSIDERING MPLS A MUST

Level 3, Cable & Wireless opt for standard in network overhauls

Saving money while you spend money somehow takes away a little of the sting. That fact, along with growing faith in multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), is thrusting the technology from the bench to first string for carriers Level 3 Communications and Cable & Wireless.

This week, Level 3 will reveal its launch of point-to-point MPLS-based Ethernet service in the U.S. and Europe using routers from Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks. The carrier also is negotiating with a third router vendor.

Level 3 has used MPLS at the core of its network for about two years, but the upgrade will drive MPLS further into its network, eventually to the edge (see figure).

“MPLS allows us to collapse layers in the network,” said Lisa King, vice president of MPLS services for Level 3. “[Before], the only solution was ATM, and that caps out at OC-48.”

MPLS lets the provider remove the ATM layer yet retain the same security, restoration and QOS capabilities. MPLS also allows the provider to converge a variety of traffic types — ATM, Ethernet and frame relay — on one network, which should reduce operational costs and network expenses as well as simplify traffic management.

Another benefit of MPLS is the capability to offer several classes of service such as voice, data, and time-sensitive traffic — each with a different QOS, according to Fletcher Keister, senior product manager for Level 3. The carrier understands MPLS better than most because of its experience with the technology, Keister said. In addition, Level 3's engineers have been at the heart of the standards process. All current Layer 2 MPLS networks are based on the “Martini draft,” which was named after Level 3 employee Luca Martini.

“[Level 3] has been active in the formulation of the Martini draft,” said Kamran Sistanizadeh, chief technical officer for Yipes Communications, which is conducting a field trial with Level 3 on transporting MPLS-based services across the network. “They are the leader in this business.”

MPLS is a necessity because of the unending need for providers to reduce cost and complexity, Sistanizadeh said. “If we didn't use this technology, our cost would be two to four times as much,” he said.

Another provider aware of these benefits is Cable & Wireless, which recently went to MPLS on its trans-Atlantic OC-192 links as part of its three-stage network upgrade from its OC-48 network using IP over ATM. So far MPLS service have been rolled out in five nodes in Europe and two in the U.S. using new Juniper M160s.

With less cell overhead than ATM, MPLS will save C&W at least 15% on network operating costs, said Dave Garbin, C&W's senior director of strategic network planning.

“MPLS and mesh are a lot more cost-effective than Sonet, and they can be used on the edge to create virtual services done previously by private lines,” Garbin said. “This is an absolute necessity to go to a uniform architecture over the entire network and have it be seamless worldwide.”

Provider Equant also recently turned up an MPLS-based IP virtual private network service and has earned at least one customer primarily because of the service levels MPLS allows.

“Our decision to go with Equant mostly revolves around their ability to commit to such high service levels,” said Cindy Stoddard, chief information officer for supply chain management firm APL Logistics. “That says a lot about their network and its capabilities.”

LEVEL 3's PHASED UPGRADE

1.
Run Ethernet access over MPLS backbone

2.
Run ATM and frame relay over MPLS backbone

CABLE & WIRELESS' PLAN

1.
Go from OC-48 to global OC-192 MPLS

2.
Extend OC-192 MPLS across U.S., run global MPLS from West Coast to Western Europe

3.
Take MPLS to network edge and run services over it