MPLS Replacement solutions

MPLS (Multi Protocol Layering Switching) is the most common choice when it comes to mission critical Enterprise Wide Area Networking. However, due to the higher cost, complexity, and newly identified security concerns many organizations are looking for ways to maintain the advantages of its Layer 2 like functionality and SLA’s while securing corporate traffic from data sniffers, route misconfigurations and wide are attacks light BGP route spoofing and more. Exodus QRN-Transport delivers a NextGen alternative by providing not only answers to old issues but also filling the security gaps not addressed by todays standards. Exodus QRN-Transport answers the call for Quantum Resistance in the wide area network and can be used behind existing MPLS technology to enhance efficiency, provide client key control, and a way to be sure about the integrity of your information in the Wide Area Network.

Never before available but ibm /SEIMless has cracked the code on the next level of best practices for Local and Wide Area Communication. PIET Technology is disrupting the industry by giving the keys back to the enterprise and providing a high grade, fast and efficient Transport services with WAN Security that’s in your control any where across the Globe. We can work alongside your MPLS telecommunications network so there is no need to migrate tp SD-WAN until your ready as it can be a costly endeavor when considering the impact on the network and resources needed to transition from one topology to another. These soft costs have direct impact on any real savings derive from lower cost bandwidth options.

MPLS vs. SD-WAN

SD-WAN is the application of Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts to the WAN. This means the deployment of SD-WAN edge devices that apply rules and policies to send traffic along the best path.

SD-WAN is a transport-agnostic overlay that can route any type of traffic, including MPLS. The advantage of SD-WAN is that an enterprise WAN-traffic architect can sit at a central point and easily apply policies across all WAN devices.
By contrast, with MPLS, predetermined routes need to be painstakingly provisioned but once in place are rarely changed. So once the fixed circuits are up, making changes is not point-and-click.

However, once an MPLS network is deployed, it delivers guaranteed performance for real-time traffic. SD-WAN can route traffic along the most efficient path, but once those IP packets hit the open Internet, there are no performance guarantees.
SD-WAN is less expensive to deploy and operate than MPLS so if you are installng a greenfield network it could present a better option. Lightyear’s WAN connectivity pricing guide pegs the average monthly recurring cost of 100 Mbps MPLS connection at $1,277, where as SD-WAN at similar speeds only costs $300-$500 per month on average.

Many network professionals look at MPLS and SD-WAN as an either-or proposition. There’s strong marketing momentum behind SD-WANs, and it’s coming at MPLS’s expense. MPLS usage dropped 24% from 2019 to 2020; in that same time period, the number of enterprises using some form of SD-WAN spiked from 18% to 43%, and interest was further driven by the need to connect datacenters to home workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
So is SD-WAN inevitably going to kill MPLS? We believe the two can coexist, with MPLS’s role changing. Small and mid-size businesses can likely sunset MPLS and shift solely to an all-broadband WAN as many consider an all-cloud IT model.

Larger enterprises and carriers, who have invested into MPLS networking, will likely take a hybrid approach, where they will keep MPLS for legacy apps that run on-net and then offload Internet traffic, like cloud, to the SD-WAN. Businesses already have hybrid compute, storage, and applications, so hybrid WAN networks won’t be anything too strange.

MPLS will continue to have a role connecting specific point-to-point locations, like large regional offices, retail facilities with point-of-sale systems, regional manufacturing facilities, and multiple data centers. MPLS is well suited for real-time applications like telepresence. And as Verizon (an MPLS provider, and ibm/SEIMless partner admittedly) points out, SD-WAN can actually help you get the most out of your MPLS connection. After all, SD-WAN’s promise is that it dynamically routes network traffic in the most efficient way possible to meet your quality of service requirements for various applications, and it can certainly use your MPLS connection to do so. ibm/SEIMless and Exodus have advanced the SD-WAN story to QRSD-WAN as part of its QRN Suite of services. This next generation of Software Defined transport is delivering on promise and exceeding expectations in ways never imagined before.