Multiprotocol label switching has been around for 20 years and has served the enterprise well as the go-to method for global connectivity. It’s popular as a response to business needs for reliable and predictable network performance across the wide area network. MPLS provides access to latency-sensitive enterprise applications like ERP, CRM and virtual desktops for remote office employees. Applications benefit from fast and reliable performance with low latency.
The alternative to MPLS is to jump into the abyss with Internet-based connections such as IP virtual private networks. Unmanaged Internet-based global routing, also known as the middle mile, is a convoluted mess of communication service providers, links and routers. It provides no guarantee that your packet will arrive on time, if at all.
Is MPLS wasteful?
But MPLS comes at a cost. Guaranteed service levels come at a hefty price with MPLS eating up a large chunk of the enterprise networking budget. On top of the costs associated with carrier-provided MPLS, organizations also must handle procurement, deployment, installation and configuration. To establish MPLS paths between sites and regions, businesses often have to work with multiple carriers and negotiate multiple contracts and service-level agreements to optimize cost and performance.
Cloud apps and mobile access have expanded enterprise network traffic. As a result, MPLS links are carrying larger volumes of Internet traffic and face increased pressure. In addition, distributed “Internet of Things” environments are generating massive amounts of data that need to be centralized and analyzed. Businesses that rely on MPLS links to backhaul traffic that doesn’t require performance guarantees are actually wasting money.
SD-WAN and hybrid WAN: Breaking the MPLS habit?
Using the public Internet for the enterprise network is tempting. Business Internet connectivity has improved dramatically over the past decade while the cost has plummeted. Enterprises can access massive amounts of bandwidth for a fraction of the cost of MPLS. Yet, they still can’t get service-level guarantees for the middle mile. While cost effective, unmanaged Internet routing remains a challenge.
Enter the hybrid WAN, the concept of which suggests that enterprises split their network traffic in each location into Internet-bound and enterprise-bound streams. With the hybrid WAN, traffic is sent via the Internet for non-mission-critical or performance-sensitive apps while connectivity-sensitive applications traffic travels over MPLS links to ensure service levels. The goal for such architecture is to reduce the load on MPLS links by using them for only “relevant” traffic.
The Internet/MPLS split became the target of companies that belong to a new category: Software-Defined WAN, in which players look to maximize the use of IPVPN from the remote office to the data center. They do it by measuring link performance and deciding if the IPVPN link works “well enough” to support a given application or if the alternative MPLS link should be used. For some applications, IPVPN links will never be used.
Rethinking the WAN from the ground up
The SD-WAN approach is short-sighted. It assumes a split is essential because the middle mile challenge is unresolved. However, the world of networking and security is transforming. Price commoditization, abundant global capacity availability, advances in computing platforms, Cloud software and network architectures open up amazing new possibilities. Using cheap last-mile capacity and intelligent, Internet-based global network backbone, it is now possible to crack the middle mile challenge and control the performance of the entire route. Once the middle mile challenge is properly addressed, there will be little reason for most midmarket enterprises to use MPLS, and Internet-based connectivity will be the way to go.
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