Bursting on an MPLS or VPLS Network

January 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Global Ethernet VPLSA handful of carriers support bursting on their IP-VPN networks.

Bursting can provide a real cost savings benefit to customers. First, it’s a solution for customers who don’t how much bandwidth they need at a given location. Bursting lets these customers add locations to their network at the lowest level of cost commitment.

Second, it is an ideal solution for customers who know that their bandwidth needs may spike much higher than normal due to, for example, seasonal traffic peaks. Bursting lets these customers commit to the least amount of bandwidth they need for continued use and pay for only what they use in excess of that amount.

Here’s an example of how it works:

A customer commits to 100 Mbps of bandwidth at a location. The carrier sets up their IP VPN port to handle bursting. That location can now burst traffic all the way up to 1 Gbps, or whatever their local loop capacity is. For instance, you might pay for a 100M Ethernet local loop, but pay for a committed port of 20M.  This will allow you to burst to the full 100M when the need arises.

The carrier then samples traffic leaving the port throughout the month. At the end of the month, billing is calculated for the:

  • 100M local loop
  • Committed 20 Mbps port rate; plus the,
  • Sustained traffic rate in excess of the committed rate.

The carrier typically discards the top 5% of the traffic samples taken during the month. This eliminates any spurious or unusual traffic from the billing measurement.

If customers find that their sustained traffic is significantly higher than their committed data rate (in this case, 20 Mbps), they can increase their commitment and take advantage of lower prices at higher committed sustained data rates.

If you are considering changes to your Wide Area Network and would like some specialized assistance with the process, please contact us!

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, Get MPLS Price Quote, International Networks, Network FAQs, Notes About Implementations, Quotation Thoughts, VPLS

Why consider VPLS for your WAN

August 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

1) More flexibility and manageability with with VPLS

When it comes to rapid change and advancement, companies which can respond quickly to market shifts will  benefit from VPLS, a Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) solution. VPLS uses MAC addresses with Layer 2 switching as opposed to Layer 3 MPLS solutions which use IP addresses and Layer 3 routing.

The main advantage of this is that with VPLS you are in control of your own IP routing. Therefore, your IT department can be much more agile in responding to varying levels of customer demand. VPLS networks allow you to conduct rapid reconfigurations yourselves without having to contact your service provider and wait for the provider to act upon the request. Even if you do require a service provider change, the typical time to make network changes to Layer 2 VPLS networks is only a fraction of that for Layer 3 MPLS networks because the network planning process is much simpler, which could be crucial for some businesses. Another feature which aids agility is the ease of adding new sites. With a VPLS-enabled network, a new site can be added by simply changing the network router that connects the site to the VPLS network. With Layer 3 MPLS solutions, however, it is a much more complex process as all of the service provider’s routers need to be changed which typically takes 10 times as long.

2) More efficiency with VPLS

Companies with a VPLS-enabled wide area networks will be more smooth-running and thus should be able to provide a better level of service to their customers. This is down to the fact that with VPLS the company has access to its own network information so faults in a VPLS network can be isolated much faster and the IT department can trouble-shoot to fix an urgent crisis rather than having to go through a number of support engineers to get the information required from a carrier. Less network down-time means higher corporate efficiency and productivity. Another aspect of our VPLS solutions is that they offer 5 levels of Quality of Service (QoS) and allow you to define your own priority levels either through labeling your traffic or using the service aware QoS feature on the core network. This is how VPLS maximizes efficient network usage according to your business needs, so you can rest assured that mission-critical data such as CRM, ERP and SCM are allocated enough bandwidth, alongside key services such as video conferencing and telephony, even during peak usage and without costly over provisioning of network capacity.

3) Lower costs with VPLS

Companies that use VPLS solutions will find they have lower costs for a number of reasons. Firstly, VPLS enables convergence of services such as VoIP, video etc. so that all traffic can be delivered over a single Ethernet interface, eliminating multiple leased lines and resulting in economies of scale. Secondly, working with VPLS uses the same skills sets that LAN specialists have, so you would not need to provide additional training on WAN skills or hire WAN specialists. In addition, VPLS requires a lower cost CPE as it requires smaller and fewer routers than MPLS solutions.

4) Lower latencies with VPLS

As a switched, Layer 2 solution VPLS is zero-hop in the core of the network, so extremely low round-trip latencies and jitter can be achieved. For example sub 1millisecond within a metropolitan area and 67 milliseconds round-trip from London to New York. This improves the productivity of the workforce as information is available faster. It also saves retail customers using Point-of-Sale systems time dialling up to make credit/debit card payments, improving their customers’ sales experience.

Thanks to Exponential-e

 

 

 

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, Get MPLS Price Quote, Industry Surveys, International Networks, Network FAQs, Quotation Thoughts, VPLS Tagged With: , , , , ,

IP Transit Prices Drop Further

August 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Prices for wholesale IP transit service continue to decline throughout the world. According to new data from TeleGeography’s IP Transit Pricing Service, price declines in most locations accelerated between Q2 2011 and Q2 2012, compared with the longer-term trend.  These trends will reduce the cost of local loop or tail-circuits for wide area networks and internet access.

The median monthly lease price for a full GigE port in London dropped 57 percent between Q2 2011 and Q2 2012 to $3.13 per Mbps, compared with a 31 percent decline compounded annually from Q2 2007 to Q2 2012. In New York, the comparable price dropped 50 percent to $3.50 per Mbps over the past year, and 26 percent compounded annually over the five-year period. Pricing for short term promotions and high capacities has dropped below $1.00 per Mbps per month.

While prices have declined globally, significant geographic disparities persist. For example, the median price of a GigE port in Hong Kong has remained 2.7 to 5.1 times the price of a GigE port in London over the past five years. The price of a GigE port in São Paulo  has remained between 5.2 and 8.2 times the price of a comparable port in New York.

IP transit prices have reached extremely low levels in developed markets, but remain high in many developing markets and in countries that are remote from major IP transit hubs. Nevertheless, few places remain where transit prices exceed $100 per Mbps. As carriers expand into emerging markets and establish new price floors in developed markets, global IP transit prices will continue to fall.

The above information provided by TeleGeography, the leading source of wholesale bandwidth pricing from nearly fifty carriers in seventy cities around the world.

Tap the expertise of MPLS-Experts in procuring and implementing your global wide area network.  Whether you need design and engineering, or management of the RFQ and bidding process, we will save you time and money.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, Industry Surveys, International Networks, Quotation Thoughts Tagged With:

Tata Communications has launched a low latency Global Ethernet network

June 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Submarine cable landing in Asia

Today, Tata Communications has launched a low latency network to connect financial trading capitals in Asia, the US and the UK.

The company claims the development is the industry’s first global low latency network, offering a multipoint Ethernet platform for the financial services sector.

John Hoffman, head of Ethernet product management at the company said it is likely other global companies will make similar developments, offering multipoint solutions, if the network proves successful.

“You may now start to see more purpose-built networks created because it gives financial trading companies an option on which cable they would like to purchase capacity on,” he said. “We recognize that while we have the largest global cable network in the world, there is also a big requirement for the fastest network – and that is the basis behind such investment.”

Hoffman heralded the development as part of a new strategy from Tata, and claims it allows customers to work with a single global supplier instead of multiple country specific point-to-point network providers.

He said he believes this could serve as a better approach to low latency trading because investments often get dated with new and emerging technologies. “It is very difficult in this scenario to make large long-term investments into a single cable, because you are never sure when a faster cable is going to be built,” he said. “We didn’t want to make that single cable investment because that investment is ultimately wasted in the end – we are aiming to provide flexibility and resiliency.”

Tata confirmed to Capacity this was only phase one of its low latency project. The company aims to bring low latency connectivity in its home market India and in South Africa, where it owns a majority share in operator Neotel. This is part of a long-running strategy to tap in to other emerging markets. “We look to get into locations where there is less competition and we have a better chance of winning business,” added Hoffman.

Readers should note that this technology is available to all companies interested in low latency communication.  The key is the utilization of the most direct cable path across the globe.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, International Networks, VPLS Tagged With: , ,

Perseus Telecom and Reliance Globalcom Launch World’s Fastest Trans-Atlantic Trading Network

April 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

NEW YORK, April 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Perseus Telecom, a global provider of connectivity, along with Reliance Globalcom, the Global telecommunications services arm of India’s largest integrated telecom operator Reliance Communications, today announced the launch of the world’s fastest available trans-Atlantic network connection, QuanTA, between major global financial exchanges. The launch of QuanTA represents a landmark development in the latency race to zero and creates new opportunities for trading firms on both sides of the Atlantic. (obviously latency will never be zero or close to zero.  But when it comes to trading, milliseconds matter)

The partnership between Perseus Telecom and Reliance Globalcom has resulted in the creation of an innovative high-speed, ultra low-latency network connection across the Atlantic by leveraging an existing system on the FLAG Atlantic-1 (FA-1) North cable, a trans-Atlantic six-fiber pair system between Long Island, New York and Lands End, United Kingdom. Designed with the latest advancements in optical technology, better dispersion compensation methodology, faster processing equipment and shorter cable paths, this ultra low-latency link represents a capital assured, cost-efficient solution for the sub-60ms RTD latency financial market participants require across the Atlantic. 

“Fast-paced trading environments demand even faster connectivity, particularly across the Atlantic where, traditionally, the patchwork grid of cable systems across the ocean had not allowed for a truly low-latency network,” comments Dr. Jock Percy, CEO of Perseus Telecom. “Our ability to create this network in partnership with Reliance Globalcom at relatively low cost and minimal time to market is a testament to our expertise in developing network solutions for the financial industry. We’re incredibly excited at the launch of QuanTA which we believe marks a game-changing development for the global trading community. As high-frequency trading strategies proliferate, ultra low-latency network connectivity becomes even more of a competitive differentiator.”

Commenting on this offering, Mr. Rory Cole, President and COO – Carrier Business, Reliance Globalcom, said, “Being one of the world’s leading carriers with connectivity across the globe, we are happy to announce that Reliance Globalcom now offers the fastest ultra low-latency route on FA-1. With this service, we are now connecting the U.S. and U.K. on the fastest link, addressing the business needs of our customers, especially in the financial sector, to help them gain a significant market advantage.”

The launch of QuanTA provides trading firms with a more secure, low-latency and efficient network connection across the Atlantic. Now, firms tapping into liquidity at exchanges in the U.S. and Europe can do so with guaranteed minimal latency on a highly reliable connection, minimizing potential risk in network outages or latency.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, International Networks, International Private Leased Circuit - IPLC, Private Lines, VPLS

Federal regulators have approved Level-3 Inc.’s merger with Global Crossing

October 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Federal regulators have approved Inc.’s merger with Global Crossing, and the $3 billion deal is expected to close as soon as next week.

The U.S. Department of Justice approved the deal after reviewing it on antitrust grounds, and the Federal Communications Commission has authorized the transaction, too, Broomfield-based Level 3 announced Thursday afternoon.

“Overall, both companies are looking forward to completing the transaction and working toward creating what we believe will be a new kind of competitor that will offer customers the network reach, scale and reliability they are looking for, all from a team steeped in an entrepreneurial culture and singularly focused on the customer experience,” Jeff Storey, chief operating officer and president of Level 3, said in an email.

In April, Level 3 (Nasdaq: LVLT) reached agreement to buy Florham, N.J.-based Global Crossing (Nasdaq: GLBC) in a stock and debt-assumption deal.

Global Crossing shareholders will get 16 shares of Level 3 stock for each share of their stock. Level 3 will assume $1.1 billion in Global Crossing debt.

Both companies provide data-transport services and own large fiber-optic networks that carry Internet and corporate traffic (think MPLS networks).

The merged company will have fiber-optic networks in more than 50 countries across the Americas and Europe. The combined companies generated $6.26 billion in 2010 revenue.

Combining with Global Crossing will — after the companies wring about $300 million in near-term savings on operations — improve Level 3’s debt-to-cash-flow ratio, which should reduce its borrowing costs if it needs to refinance the combined company’s $7 billion in debt.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, International Networks

Legal Tip – Avoid Auto-Renewal of Contracts With This Language

August 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If you haven’t experienced it once in your career, you are lucky.  Carriers and other service providers often include automatic renewal language in their contracts.  After a three-year term, if you do not give notice of termination at least 30 (or 60) days before the end of your term, the contract will automatically renew for the same original term, such as three years, if that was the original term.  This language has stood up in court.

Another carrier trick is to not mention auto-renewal in the paper contract that you sign.  Instead, the contract references “terms and conditions at www.terms.carriername.com shall be incorporated into this agreement”, with the auto-renewal language displayed at this website.  Many customers do not notice this. Or, since it is not in the written agreement, in the future, it is assumed that the agreement does not auto-renew.  Wrong!

Protect yourself! Insist on including this language in your carrier contracts under the Term and Renewal section:

Upon the expiration of the Initial Term, this Agreement shall be renewed
automatically for successive Renewal Terms equivalent in duration of one (1) month
unless terminated by either Party by providing one (1) month written notice of
its intention not to renew this Agreement prior to the end of the Initial Term
or any current Renewal Term.

This language will protect you and your company from unexpected surprises several years down the road.

 

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, Get MPLS Price Quote, Quotation Thoughts

Global Ethernet VPN Still Limited in Many Geographies

June 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Enterprise customers around the world are replacing legacy private line, Frame Relay, and ATM wide area networks (WAN) with Ethernet VPLS and MPLS IP VPN services. Companies’ choice of wide-area network type is shaped by a number of factors, including the applications they need to accommodate, the number of locations to be connected, the level of control the customers want to maintain over their networks, their capacity requirements, and the cost of the solution. However, data from TeleGeography’s Global Enterprise Networks Research Service suggest that the most important factor shaping an organization’s international network choice may simply be availability.

Ethernet VPN services are generally more cost effective than MPLS IP VPN services for capacity requirements above 50 Mbps, and are most appropriate for linking high-capacity headquarter sites and data centers. MPLS IP VPN
services tend to be better suited for linking large numbers of sites with more modest capacity requirements. However, dependence on Ethernet local access and the relatively slow rollout of Ethernet across MPLS PoPs means that Ethernet VPN solutions are not yet available in as many cities.

Ethernet deployments lag far behind MPLS VPN deployments, both by service provider and by geographic market. Over half of the 63 international service providers researched by TeleGeography offer MPLS VPN service in 10 or more countries, compared with less than one-third of Ethernet VPLS service providers.

The availability of IP VPN and Ethernet VPN services also differs by region. TeleGeography identified 39 IP VPN providers in Europe, 34 in Asia, 31 in the U.S. & Canada, and 19 in Africa and Latin American. Ethernet VPN services are less widely available in all of these regions, but the difference is particularly great in emerging markets. While 32 service providers offer layer 2 Ethernet VPN services in Europe, only 9 offer VPLS service in Latin America
and only 6 in Africa. While 22 service providers offer VPLS service in London, only 5 offer VPLS service in Mumbai.

This report should not limit your interest in Ethernet VPN services, but rather shape expectations on its availability.  To determine Ethernet VPN network availability for your company, contact us.

The above content provided from TeleGeography, the world’s leading independent reference source for global network infrastructure data.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, Get MPLS Price Quote, Industry Surveys, International Networks, Network FAQs, Notes About Implementations, Quotation Thoughts, VPLS

Level 3 to purchase Global Crossing

June 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

This is not “new” news (from April, 2011) , but since many clients were not aware of this merger, I feel compelled to post it here:

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) said it agreed to acquire Global Crossing Limited (NASDAQ: GLBC) for about $1.9 billion stock deal to boost its service portfolio.

Including Global Crossing’s net debt of about $1.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010, the deal values the company at about $3 billion.

The deal will create a company with pro forma combined 2010 revenues of $6.26 billion and pro forma combined 2010 Adjusted EBITDA of $1.27 billion before synergies and $1.57 billion after expected synergies.

By combining the strengths of each company, the new entity will offer enterprise, government, wholesale, content, and web-based customers a comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end data, video and voice solutions.

“This is a transformational combination that we believe will deliver significant value to the investors, customers and employees of both Level 3 and Global Crossing,” said Jim Crowe, chief executive officer of Level 3. “The complementary fit between the two companies’ networks, service portfolios and customers is compelling. By leveraging the respective strengths and extensive reach of both companies, we are creating a highly efficient and more extensive global platform that is well-positioned to meet the local and international needs of our customers.”

Including the benefit of synergies and the cost of integration, Level 3 expects the transaction to be accretive to its Free Cash Flow per share in 2013.

Through integration of the combined businesses, the transaction is expected to create substantial annualized Adjusted EBITDA synergies of approximately $300 million and cost savings of about $40 million.

Level 3 expects to realize approximately two-thirds of the run rate Adjusted EBITDA synergies within 18 months of closing. The company estimates that the net present value of the potential synergies will be approximately $2.5 billion.

In addition, Level 3 expects to incur about $200 million to $225 million of integration costs associated with this transaction.

Also, the transaction is expected to improve Level 3′s credit profile as well as significantly strengthen the company’s balance sheet.

The combined business will offer an extensive portfolio of transport, IP and data solutions, content delivery, data center, colocation and voice services, delivered globally.

Global Crossing will bring important additions to Level 3′s service portfolio, including managed services, collaboration services and inter-continental virtual private networking capability. The combined service portfolio and distribution channels will allow Level 3 to better address the needs of enterprises, content providers, carriers and governments throughout North America, Latin America and Europe.

Global Crossing’s enterprise service portfolio and proven sales expertise together with the improved cost structure and performance achievable by combining the extensive international, intercity and metro networks will enable opportunities for improved growth by giving enterprises better options to meet their local, national and international communications needs.

Level 3, which got committed financing for $1.75 billion in connection with this acquisition, said ST Telemedia, which owns approximately 60 percent of Global Crossing’s stock, has agreed to vote its shares in favor of the deal.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of this year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

Bermuda-based Global Crossing is an IP, Ethernet, data center and video solutions provider, offering a full range of data, voice, collaboration, broadcast and media services delivered with superior customer service.

It connects the North America and Europe, and links to Asia and Latin America through submarine fiber-cable networks. This fiber stream supports a wide range of services, including Internet access and other data services, for multinational corporations, government agencies, and other telecom service providers

Global Crossing provides services to enterprises (including approximately 40 percent of the Fortune 500); government departments and agencies; and 700 carriers, mobile operators and ISPs. It delivers converged IP services to more than 700 cities in more than 70 countries, and has 17 world-class data centers in major business centers around the globe.

In 2010, Global Crossing revenue grew to $2.61 billion from $2.54 billion in 2009.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS, International Networks, International Private Leased Circuit - IPLC, Private Lines

3 Gbps transport for broadcasters between LA, NYC and Washington, D.C. Announced

October 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Vyvx Services to Offer Uncompressed HD Video Transport between New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

In response to increased demand, Vyvx will now offer uncompressed high-definition (HD) video transport services between Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and New York City, giving customers in these cities the ability to transmit live video with a previously unattainable level of clarity and quality.

The uncompressed HD services will support 1.5 and 3.0 Gigabits per second (Gbps) transport with zero compression, ensuring that the video feed is delivered in its native, pristine form.  Vyvx customers in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. can use the services for transmission locally or between any of the three cities.

This service can also be used by video production companies working on tight deadlines with clients located in any of the three supported cities.

Filed Under: Carriers Offering MPLS
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