What Is MPLS ?
A Layman’s business
MPLS Tutorial

What is MPLS?

MPLS, ummm, sounds like a disease or something, doesn’t it?

When I was a data specialist working for the phone company and they rolled out this product, I thought it was the coolest stuff on the planet.

Imagine my delight when they assigned me to be the product specialist, because at the time I had been asking what is MPLS? myself. I was in heaven!

So here we go for a deep dive into E-Dude’s MPLS tutorial, but I promise to keep it simple. Really, I do…

If you simply can't wait to find out how much this stuff costs, these folks below have a free tool to figure it out.

Multi Protocol Label Switching
A.K.A. MPLS

What is MPLS? Essentially a fast packet data transport service that uses high speed switching architecture instead of the typical routers seen in most IP networks. Switching is faster than routing and can provide security more easily based on the MPLS protocol.

A number of business advantages here to MPLS in a general sense:

1. MPLS is used to create cost effective, private Wide Area Networks (WANs)
2. It’s a lot faster and more secure than regular routed “public” IP networks like the internet.
3. It’s more secure than the public internet, because a “virtual” private network can be built just for your organization. This will be an unfettered, unencrypted private IP backbone between your locations. It’s a beauty to behold!
4. Since it’s a private network, we don’t have to configure and maintain traditional encryption based Virtual Private Networking (VPN) equipment anymore, and can also avoid the latency and delay inherent in this technology.
5. What is MPLS? -- It’s a “fully meshed” network topology meaning that all branches or locations on the network can reach or “talk” to any other (if that’s what you want)
6. It’s relatively inexpensive when compared to other “private” IP facilities like private line or other point to point circuits.

So here’s where the business VoIP phone service part comes in. VoIP loves all five of the items listed above! Yeah baby!

MPLS was MADE for VoIP. Like rum and coke, like hot dogs at the ball game. I mean this stuff is exactly what we need to make sure our VoIP (and video) is working great between our company locations.

In fact we could work long and hard, and spend A LOT of money to make a private IP backbone from private lines, and we wouldn’t come close to the cost effectiveness and quality of service capabilities of a properly designed MPLS network.

This is the crux of why businesses are migrating from private lines and older fast packet services like frame relay to MPLS networks in droves.

What is MPLS and
When do we use MPLS?

1. Anytime we are spending a bunch of money on older technology like private lines or frame relay you’re right to ask what is MPLS?
2. When we have bunch of older VPN equipment deployed out there and it isn’t working for us, maybe we’re trying to do VoIP over the internet or we’re simply tired of paying all that money to maintain our VPNs.
3. Maybe we’re unsure if our data (and VoIP?) is really secure right now across our existing WAN (especially if using Internet VPN), think HIPAA and stuff like that.
4. Whenever needs arise that require a private IP backbone, like we want to do VoIP or we have real time video needs like conferencing or video streaming between locations.
5. Whenever we have very large data transport needs and don’t want to have to encrypt and un-encrypt all that data using traditional VPN, think large CAD or radiology files.
6. Whenever we find ourselves with two networking technologies being used simultaneously i.e.: VPN over the internet and maybe other stuff like private line or wireless for other applications, and we want to converge it all together on one networkwith scalability and QOS.
7. And the number one reason – to do business VoIP phone service, converge our voice and data needs, fire the phone company and erase ALL long distance toll charges between our branches!

How about implementing SIP trunks for the enterprise and consolidating all those T1s an analog lines all over the place? Video conferencing? Unified Communications? (UC) It all becomes faster, better and slicker as well as easier with MPLS.

Don’t you love this VoIP MPLS stuff?

How am I doing with this what is MPLS tutorial? Still asking what is MPLS?

The Diagram below shows a typical MPLS WAN with VoIP deployment using a premise based PBX

Well, lots. And the reason is – yes you guessed it… Class Of Service! COS is fantastic! It actually allows our routing and switching equipment to identify which IP packets are more important than others – WOW!

Just like a little traffic cop, telling the packets as they go by if they have to slow down so other packets that are in “the fast lane” can get through first.

So, Class Of Service let’s us put a small check mark in the MPLS header of each and every IP packet how important it is.

+Voice and video packets are very important. These are “real time” needs. They have to get there, and RIGHT NOW or they won’t be able to be used at all, because the conversation has already happened! So their MPLS header will have a “really important” check mark.

+Certain applications, maybe a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or other database that’s always in use where our employees are counting on the information to be delivered without much delay might be tagged as “near real time” needs.

+Then we have that data like e-mail or file transfers. Since we’re measuring all this stuff in milliseconds, who really cares if it takes 100 milliseconds or 1 second for your e-mail to arrive? I mean it simply doesn’t matter, right? So these would be “best effort” types of needs and their MPLS header will say “send when the network is not too busy”.

I’ve kept it pretty simple here on this what is MPLS tutorial, but hey, that’s what I promised – right?

Alright.

I know, I need to wind this up soon <;-)

So now we have to know what else is important when we’re going to think about “what is MPLS” and how it can serve our business needs.

What is MPLS? It provides a perfect opportunity to tear down those old, expensive private lines or VPN connections and stop paying for all that internet access at each location (and having to maintain all that VPN equipment)

Don’t forget when we go to MPLS we also get the ability to provide a SINGLE POINT OF MANAGEMENT for our Internet firewall and content filtering.

Why is this important? Think Youtube and Facebook. You don’t really want your employees surfing this stuff all day long do you? Hey let’s get some work done around here will ‘ya!

So now you can use content filtering at ONE location to control all internet access across the entire network, all branches, all employees, each and every device on the company network.

WOW, let’s talk productivity, hey, I’ve already increased your bottom line 5% to 10% simply because no one’s going to be able to get to Facebook, much less spend an hour reading up on all those other Internet time wasters.

Do You Have A Business IM & E-Mail Usage Policy?

Hey download my complimentary internet and IM usage policy, it keeps ‘em honest, and working because they sign it and you have a copy on file.

So we also get a whole bunch of other capabilities with a single point of Internet access, fire walling is easier, since we have only one firewall.

Internet redundancy and fail-over can many times be accomplished easily, as some providers can actually open a “hole” in the MPLS network cloud to allow for internet access. In this fashion the firewalling and content filtering is handled on a fully managed basis (did I hear you just tell your IT staff to stop farting around with old VPNs and get busy on important stuff that will help everyone make money?)

So since the internet access is “in the cloud” … (like wow, the cloud, man) we don’t have a big fat internet pipe back at HQ, and if HQ goes down, the branches still have internet – COOL!

How about taking this a step further?

What is MPLS? Let's say we have virtual offices, home workers, whatever. We only need a little internet there, but we also want to control what, when and how they surf the internet, as well as provide access to our CRM and corporate LAN.

So we can actually do MPLS over DSL. That’s right, low cost ADSL or similar and we still get access to our private network so we can make sure these smaller locations are doing what they are supposed to be when they need to. We can do our VoIP, and all the cool stuff we would for larger branches at a fraction of the cost for the network access!

Really want to leverage MPLS?

Let's do hosted PBX! Now we don't even HAVE a phone system, it's also in the cloud. Let's throw in hosted servers, so all our data is in the cloud while we're at it, nothing to break, 24/7 availability for all.

What is MPLS? Talk about Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR). Nothing like server and internet access with voice services in the cloud, safe from harm for everyone in the entire organization.

24/7 - 365 days a year, never goes down, your IT staff goes and does other more important stuff, and HQ can take an asteroid hit and everyone else is still up and running.

By the way, I can tell you this is the future anyway, cloud computing, virtual servers. Don't fight it! "Come into the light, walk this way…" <;-)

There's more to my MPLS tutorial below!

So How Do We
Buy This MPLS Stuff?

Hopefully my MPLS tutorial has done the trick and you're not still asking "what is MPLS?" If so, well that’s simple. You can click below and go to my contact E-Dude page and tell me you want help (no charge, ‘cause I’m your pal…) I can also help with other "cloud services" as well.

Or you can go to one of the big boys like AT&T or Qwest and pay through the nose!

Just kidding, hey don’t get huffy.

I like those guys too, used to work for them. Just so we’re clear, I get the same stuff, but in a brown wrapper, and because my providers don’t advertise publicly and buy quantity from the big boys, you pay less.

Think Costco and Sam’s Club. Same rib-eyes, bigger package - for less money. Many of my guys don’t even sell voice services, just focus on data transport like MPLS networks!

So even if you don't want help from me, but still want to shop the market quickly, you can go to "Shop For MPLS". They have the whole comparative pricing thing down pat. I think they even got a patent on the technology that saves you all that money! They actually guarantee the lowest cost – click on the banner below for that.

If all your locations are in the same city, you might be able to use Metro Ethernet to connect them together, get a quote at the banner below – MASSIVE BANDWIDTH, real cheap!

So Contact E-Dude Now, fill out the form and let’s see if MPLS is in your company’s future.

I Love this MPLS and VoIP stuff!

Your pal, E-Dude

Who Is This E-Dude Guy Anyway?