Do you really need it?

By Shekhar Vasal
Illustration: John Sapsford

A new network can have significant benefits for your organization, but only if you first determine that it’s a strategic fit

Your IT department has come up with a new business network for you to review. The head of IT claims it will improve speed and reliability and set the stage for convergence — the ability to run voice, data and video on one powerful network.

It sounds promising, but is it just another expensive, short-lived IT project that has more technical than business value? Does your existing network, which works fine, really need to evolve toward convergence?

Supporting business communications
Businesses can’t operate without the ability to communicate. Employees communicate with one another, with customers and suppliers using voice, e-mail, instant chat and video conferencing. And employees communicate with information and applications running on the network, including accounting systems and scheduling systems. They also access information outside the network on the Internet.

For employees to be productive, all communication — voice, data or video — must be reliable and seamless. So the network technology supporting communication should contribute to and drive that productivity.

In addition to communication requirements, security is a major priority. Information residing on and travelling across the network must be protected to ensure its integrity. This is especially critical for businesses that have remote locations, are geographically dispersed, support teleworkers or operate multinationally.

Currently, many companies rely on two separate networks: one to support voice communications and one to support data communications. While this approach works, it does not deliver optimum business or technology value. With two networks, companies must duplicate equipment, maintenance, management and support. There is also the complexity of managing two supplier relationships with different service level agreements.

Keeping up with change
The rapid evolution of telecommunications during the past 10 years and the shortage of qualified IT personnel have pushed many organizations to consider data network redesign to meet changing business requirements, such as security. With organic network growth, the proliferation of applications and branch data centres can expose the network to security risks. Then there are cost considerations. Maintaining both a voice and data network is expensive in terms of personnel and maintenance.

While companies were grappling with how to handle new and more demanding network requirements, telecommunications providers were undertaking major network upgrades to transition to next-generation Internet protocol (IP) networks to support an Internet-reliant business world. With upgraded network infrastructures, telcos could leverage the opportunities inherent in convergence more effectively by providing one integrated platform for voice, data, video and wireless traffic.

With the network upgrades complete, telcos could support their customers’ network redesign requirements and offer a reliable path to convergence through multiprotocol label switching (MPLS).

What is MPLS?
MPLS is a protocol, which means it sits on top of existing access methods and manages traffic more efficiently by assigning priorities to voice, data, video and other traffic. With quality of service (QoS) tagging, administrators can determine how voice, data and video should travel across the network. QoS is critical for convergence because it ensures performance. Information travels across the network seamlessly based on what is most important to your business and communication requirements.

It’s similar to traffic on a highway. There are all types of traffic — police cars, ambulances and passenger cars. When there is an accident, the emergency vehicles get priority over the rest of the traffic. MPLS does the same thing for communications. It ensures that the most important traffic passes quickly across the network while keeping the rest of the traffic safe.

To better understand how MPLS works in a business environment, examine its capabilities based on a potential real-world example. A firm with five North American branch offices maintains two small data centres at two different locations for redundancy purposes. A majority of voice calls are interoffice, resulting in significant long-distances charges. Users access key applications, including an in-house inventory management system, and use PeopleSoft remotely. Currently, the company runs two separate networks for voice and data.

In an effort to unify communications, the company implements an MPLS network and achieves a single data network for voice and data traffic; the ability to prioritize traffic; and long-distance and maintenance cost savings.

New technology, new capabilities
One of the key advantages of a MPLS network is the type of applications that can run on it. With QoS capabilities, you can implement many types of applications, prioritize their importance across the network and, as a result, gain a host of new capabilities for business productivity.

Voice, video conferencing, database information sharing, customer relationship management programs and collaboration software can all run on an MPLS network. The advantage is that the company can prioritize what is important. No longer will a YouTube download slow down an important database update. Traffic can be shaped to meet the needs of your business.

Business benefits of convergence
Convergence is more than a technology term or a way to route traffic more effectively across your business network. It is a strategic way to deliver value to your business. Embracing convergence enables you to:

Improve flexibility — with an MPLS network in place, you can take advantage of IP innovation in voice, data and video applications. You also have the ability to tailor your network to your business needs and expand it as your business grows.

Integrate new productivity applications — by building your network using industry standards and best practices, it is easy to integrate new applications and capabilities. You can have IP telephony and IP video running on the same network to target productivity improvements.

Reduce costs — with one network, you can minimize capital investments in equipment and infrastructure and cut operational costs. Most providers also offer managed network solutions so you can rely on their expertise and investments, reallocating precious resources to value-added business activities.

Enhance security and reliability — MPLS networks support optimum security and QoS prioritizes the traffic to ensure peak performance.

Easy scalability — the technology foundation of an MPLS net-work makes it simple to connect sites to the network and reduces the management complexity.

Is MPLS right for you?
Adopting new network technology is a serious undertaking. Before pursuing a change, evaluate your business to determine if MPLS can deliver significant benefits.

Is your company multisite or single site? If you only have one location, you may not need MPLS. You may simply require more efficient network planning. Even with two sites, you should consider carefully whether the cost savings warrant a migration.

Do you have users trying to access programs, databases and applications over wide areas? If yes, then MPLS may be a cost-effective and efficient solution. Are you running mission critical applications? If so, MPLS can support timely, reliable access.

Are your long-distance costs high as a result of interoffice communications? If so, these can be virtually eliminated using MPLS. Is your IT staff facing challenges in maintaining your current network? If so, outsourcing this function through MPLS is a good solution.

If you have built a fairly convincing business case for MPLS, there are still a few more things to consider: with falling long-distance rates, there may not be much savings as a result of implementing MPLS. The cost of traditional access methods for both voice and data is falling significantly as a result of increased competition in the marketplace. The savings from MPLS may be limited and, in some cases, you may be better off with network status quo.

There are other network solutions that may meet your needs including ATM networks or Frame Relay. ATM and Frame Relay are also efficient data transmission techniques that use different protocols than MPLS to send voice and data traffic. Given that they were developed before MPLS, MPLS has taken into consideration the good and bad in both these protocols. It is important to consider what you have deployed in making the move to MPLS. If you currently have Frame Relay or ATM consider the remaining life of those networks. Although they are widely deployed, these networks are getting antiquated but are still worth consideration.

Depending on your business and how you interact with customers (i.e. Internet-based customer care), it may be prudent to evolve your network to the latest technologies.

Choosing an MPLS service provider
A number of service providers offer MPLS solutions. Keep in mind that MPLS is a protocol. Because it rides on top of existing access methods, providers can buy the underlying access from incumbent telcos and then layer their MPLS solution on top. These are considered value-added resellers. They offer MPLS solutions. Typically, they purchase the MPLS network from a carrier for resale. Their value add is twofold. First, they are likely providing a critical application or are managing the applications on your network. Second, they have the expertise to deal with the telco in getting your service provisioned and managed. In addition, given that they manage the service for numerous customers, they can pass volume discounts onto you.

In this case, your relationship is with the resellers, even though they are not the underlying service provider. Make sure the reseller is a viable business with longevity and that the middle man will not impede delivery and fault resolution time. If you have in-house expertise, it may be more beneficial to partner directly with the telco.

All major telcos offer MPLS services and the advantages of network access, national reach, financial stability and expertise. They will be able to assemble a team dedicated to your business and ensure the solution is tailored to your specific needs.

If you choose to deploy an MPLS network, you are entrusting your network and, in essence, your business to your service provider. It is critical that the company you choose has the business and technical resources to deliver, manage and maintain the solution according to your business priorities.

With careful planning and evaluation, implementing an MPLS network can have significant benefits for your organization in terms of efficiency, reliability, cost reduction and security. So when IT comes to you with the concept of migrating to a new network to support convergence, you’ll be able to have an informed discussion about the business and technical value to determine if it’s a strategic fit for your organization.

Shekhar Vasal, CA, CA•IT, has been in the telecommunications industry for the past eight years and helps global telecommunications carriers with business processes and networking strategies. He can be reached at shekhar.vasal@telus.com

Technical editor: Yves Godbout, CA•IT, CISA, director of IT services, Office of the Auditor General of Canada. He can be reached at godbout@computrad.com