The Seven Virtues of MPLS
Usually when I blog I try not to wave the Sprint flag too vigorously. But this time, I just have to brag a little about our MPLS VPN product line. What prompts this is a recent event marking the 12th anniversary of Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), about which Network World did a fine article regarding the protocol’s seven reasons for success.
Although Sprint was in the wilderness regarding ATM for a while (Sprint ION, anyone?), once that was fixed, we embraced IP stronger than any of the “traditional” wireline providers. While others were still hyping the benefits of traditional TDM phones and private lines to build “networks,” we stepped up and made the bet-the-company decisions that have led to our success today. Those decisions allowed Sprint to experience above-market growth rates for our IP products for the last three years, to become the fifth largest local phone provider, run a global MPLS network that spans five continents, and win more than our fair share of the IP/MPLS business from enterprise and government customers. Oh yeah, and it also supports the third-largest wireless provider in the U.S. enabling the largest (you guessed it) mobile Internet footprint.
Of all of the work I have done here at Sprint, helping develop Sprint’s Global MPLS product line is my badge of honor (and one that every Sprint person involved with this product and platform should be proud of). Its success dovetails with the seven reasons for MPLS’ success that Network World detailed. Specifically:
1. MPLS embraced IP. Most providers don’t talk about this, but virtually all the original MPLS networks used an ATM core (and often frame relay access). In fact, the initial deployments of MPLS were really solving “carrier problems” rather than customer problems. While these solutions worked fine, they didn’t make the leap in capability until service providers embraced IP. But Sprint started with an IP architecture and never used ATM for our backbone or access. We could have built an MPLS solution on ATM, but we didn’t because ATM was too restrictive and our IP backbone was far more capable of meeting customer needs.
2. MPLS is flexible. No argument here. If Sprint’s Global MPLS network can serve everyone, from Sprint wireless and cable VoIP all the way down to a three-branch community bank, the product has to be flexible. With flexible class of service settings, support for multiple VRFs (sub-VPNs), managed and network-only options, support for multiple protocols, native multicasting, network-based remote access support, and more, it’s clearly a product line to fit any need.
3. MPLS is protocol neutral. MPLS really did provide the flexible “glue” to overcome challenges of legacy technologies. To #1 above…MPLS solved all sorts of issues and has become the Kleenex of VPN network technologies. In other words, MPLS is the de facto standard for VPNs.
4. MPLS is pragmatic. The joke goes that when you put two engineers in a room, they come out with three opinions, each of which is the only correct one. MPLS broke down the engineering “religion” into something everyone could agree on.
5. MPLS is adaptable. Adaptability is the key to meeting customer needs. When the protocol was developed, few would have thought that MPLS (much less IP) could be used to support all of the things we do today, from local voice services to wireless services, real-time HD video, high availability applications, and more. MPLS showed that IP wasn’t such a “scary” idea and that the technology could really solve practical enterprise problems.
6. MPLS supports metrics. One of the best parts of MPLS was that it allowed a carrier to really understand network performance. Being able to measure how the network performed gave us an incredibly detailed view of what the network was capable of doing. Support one VoIP customer? Sure. But millions? That’s a question you need to answer before telling a customer to fire their LEC for cable VoIP. This network understanding also allowed us to provide great SLAs for customers, SLAs that are end-to-end and commit to a certain experience between any two points and for all traffic. To prove it, we even created the Compass portal to let customers look within our MPLS cloud to view the actual performance of their network.
7. MPLS scales. Honestly, I still have not seen an enterprise network that Sprint’s MPLS product can’t support. Not every situation is right for MPLS VPNs, but regardless of size, complexity, product demands, etc., if the needs are properly qualified I know that our Global MPLS solution can meet your needs.
Bottom line: MPLS is here to stay, and its future, in my opinion, is as a foundation over which convergence will take place.
-Steve
Email
Bookmark
Digg
Tweet This
SubscribeTags: ATM, IP backbone, IP/MPLS, MPLS, Multi-protocol Label Switching, VoIP, VPN
May 19th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Steve, we have been a SPrint customer for years. I’m the network manager. I’m quite pleased with network performance. We are up for renewal in October. My boss is hearing all the talk of the sale of Sprint, lack of focus with the wireless stuff. He doesn’t want to listen to a Sprint contact sales pitch. I would rather have root canal with novacaine than switch vendors (Paetec or Masergy). I understand it’s asking for crystal ball but how can i have some insight into the future of MPLS with Sprint?
May 20th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
John-thanks for the note. It is always great to hear directly from our loyal customers… I’m writing a longer blog that tackles these type of questions head-on, but suffice it to say for now 99% of the noise you are hearing is related to challenges we face in the *consumer* wireless world. The world in which you and I live (MPLS, IP, business) is another (under-reported) story–one where Sprint is very strong…and getting stronger. Our IP and wireline products and customer service are top of the line (hope you would agree) and we believe we are leading the industry with our unified communications strategy. There’s a good reason that, of our 50 top wireless customers, 48 are also Sprint wireline customers. Like you, they appreciate the benefits of our IP solution and that from a business standpoint, wireless and wireline are deeply integrated.