Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS)
Walking through Wan history, from the early days Leased lines Customers subscribe to dedicated point-to-point links Cost prohibitive for customers Started in the 1980 s What Corporate is a Virtual Private Network? headquarters PSTN Infrastructure Branch office Point-to-point link (leased line) Frame Relay and ATM services Customers subscribe to point-to-point links to construct Hub and Spoke or Mesh Started in the 1990 s Offered over a shared infrastructure that offers multiplexing advantages Cheaper alternative to Leased line Corporate Headquarters Intranet Branch Office Shared Infrastructure Extranet Mobile Users and Telecommuters Suppliers, Partners and Customers FR/ATM Network
Walking through Wan history, up to present day IP-VPN Branch Office Customers subscribe to multipoint Layer 3 MPLS service Corporate HQ VRF IP only CPE = router, routing interaction with Service Provider VRF IP VPN VRF L3 Router VPLS Branch Office Customers subscribe to multipoint Layer 2 MPLS service: All sites appear to be connected to a single bridged domain Branch Office Multi-protocol Corporate HQ VB CPE = switch or router, flexible, dynamic VB VPLS L2 Switch Simple, familiar interface VB Clear demarcation Branch Office Advantages: Flexibility, control, quality of service, optimum performance, ultra-low latency, scalable & flexible bandwidth, network resilience, multiple service options
UK WAN services evolution The Ethernet market is growing rapidly Ethernet is replacing FR/ATM and IP/VPN 2500 EUR million 2000 1500 1000 500 Ethernet FR ATM Broadband SDH, WDM 0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 AnalysysMason Business Data Services in Europe: Market drivers and forecast 2008 2013
Drivers of the UK WAN evolution Forrester forecasts the Enterprise data traffic in Europe to grow by 30-70% per annual to 2012 typically doubling every 18 months. Without innovation, costs to the enterprise will rise inexorably. This is why Carrier Ethernet is on every agenda. Carrier Ethernet provides optimum availability, flexibility, speed of response and resilience without compromises, at an affordable price. Forrester expects VPLS-based services delivered over MPLS networks to become the dominant means of delivery for Ethernet services over the next 24 months.
Drivers of the UK WAN evolution Carrier Ethernet > mass adoption due to low cost, performance and flexibility. Ethernet over MPLS = VPLS. VPLS is becoming mainstream. VPLS adoption fuelled by huge increase in bandwidth demand.
Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) VPLS is a high security, low latency means to connect sites or services either point-to-point or as a mesh. We use Virtual Private LAN Service technology to create a WAN with many of the features and functionalities of a LAN. Our Layer 2 VPLS-enabled Next Generation Network (NGN) provides Ethernet based multipoint-to-multipoint communication over IP/MPLS networks. It makes it possible for geographically dispersed sites to share an Ethernet broadcast domain by connecting multiple sites through pseudo wires to a central bridge on an any-to-any basis think of it as a private virtual VPLS cloud. We are all familiar with the concept of simply plugging our PCs, servers and printers into our office LANs and getting instant plug and play connectivity between all of our devices. Well VPLS now extends that functionality across the wide area, pulling all of your remote sites back together and allowing you to think of them as a single large campus serviced by one or more local area networks.
Last Mile OA & M The Metro Ethernet Forum describes Service Management as one of the key features that characterises a Carrier Class Ethernet network and up to now, the last mile has been something of a management blind spot. In order to redress that balance, we now deploy a fully managed Ethernet Demarcation Device or EDD on all optical access circuits. 802.3 AH Ethernet OAM tools for the first mile. Multiple services presented on separate ports. 100% separation of layer 2 services. Bandwidth management per service CIR, EIR and Burst size. Traffic classification based on TOS/DSCP/802.IP/802.1Q. VLAN forwarding/swapping/stacking (Q in Q). Performance management. Status monitoring. Port and VLAN level loop-backs for error testing. We can now present different services on physically separate Ethernet ports whilst maintaining 100% separation of each layer 2 service. This offers the perfect insulation of secure LAN to LAN traffic from public Internet or for example a totally separate Voice VPN, without as in other solutions having to use complex and slow Access Control Lists at layer 3.
Layer 3 v Layer 2 Comparison Protocol Architecture Layer 3 2547bis Limited to IP protocol only so special handling needed to make some applications available on the network Routed solution means customer routers have to navigate service provider routers to connect with each other Layer 2 VPLS Multi-protocol Ethernet if the application can runonyourlanthenitcanrunonthewan Bridged solution so customers routers only see routers of their own network transparent WAN to customer Control Customers lose control of IP routing Customer retains control of IP routing Change: Adding Sites Change: IP changes Faults: Management Faults: Calls Complex as all service provider routers connecting sites need routing changes Service provider needs to agree all IP address changes Verydifficulttofixfaults costingtimeand money for service provider No clear demarcation between customer and service provider network resulting in customerfaultcallswhentheissueisonthe customer network Simple, only the service provider router the site connects to needs changing IPaddressingissimplerandnoneedtoinvolve service provider Service provider does not need to deal with customer routing issues fewer fault calls, quicker and cheaper fault fixing Clear demarcation of service provider and customer results in less stress for customer and less cost for service provider
The service creation platform A single Ethernet tail circuit connects customers from their premises into our Next Generation Network, known as our Service Creation Platform. Connection into the service creation platform gives our customers access to a highly flexible suite of plug-andplay applications and services available on a wires-only or fully managed basis.
Case study: Clients current WAN Internet 1 hub site & 3 spoke sites. PSTN One spoke site is also used for Disaster Recovery and should DR ever be invoked, the staff and services from the affected site would be relocated there. Centralised hub Site services Hub Site Partner Site The hub serves the spoke sites with centrally held file, print and application services. Internet access was provided at the hub site using a 2Mb Internet leased line. Spoke Site (DR) Spoke Site Each spoke site used a 2Mb point to point leased line to privately connect back to the Hub site accessing the central services. A dedicated tie-line voice circuit was used to connect the PBXs at the hub and DR sites, with ISDN 30 s providing access to the Public Service Telephone Network to the PBXs at each site.
Case study: Clients current WAN The problems: The client s bandwidth requirements had long outgrown the 2Mbps capacity of the existing leased lines and the network performance was suffering not to mention the poor IT support team who had to field the complaints from users. An upgrade using existing legacy technology meant either adding a second 2Mb leased line to each site (doubling costs) or upgrading to 34Mb circuits either option being far in excess of the available budget. There was no way of replicating the hub site commsat the DR site to offer true Business Continuity without having to install a second infrastructure of leased lines. The client s services had outgrown their commsroom and become more and more critical to the business, so a fully equipped hosting environment was also required. Building an on-site datacentre simply wasn t practical with the available space not to mention the spend that the project would have meant. Insufficient bandwidth capacity Multiple circuits Network performance Inflexible capacity and functionality Single points of failure throughout Restricted growth of the company Costs exceeding available budget
Case study: The solution iscsi Voice Network DSL Network Business Class Internet Hub site Data VPLS MPLS/VPLS Network Voice VPLS Supplier/Exchange/ Partner/Client Site Co-Location iscsi Spoke Site (DR)
Case study: The solution The higher capacity circuits used allow the clients business to operate more efficiently and support growth. The secondary circuits offer maximum availability and a 5 x 9s SLA. Re-locating the hub site services to a central on-net facility negates both bottlenecks at the hub and also wasted bandwidth through the trombone effect that is inherent with hub and spoke designs. It also maximisesbusiness continuity as no site is dependant on any other for day to day operations. Such is the design, that should the main site ever fail, every other site will continue to operate as usual, connecting to the centralised services with no interruption. Extra bandwidth capacity was provisioned at the D.R. site to support a DR invocation and accommodate the extra staff that would be located there should the need ever arise. The client can also rest happy in the knowledge that their services are housed in a custom built facility with full n+1 power resilience, physical security and environmental controls. Full resilience Higher capacity with instant upgrade path Removes bottlenecks and Trombone Effect No inter-site operational dependence Full D.R. and business continuity supported High availability hosting environment Secure client is in control of routing and data paths Supports client s growth Reduced spend. Delivered at 90% of current spend, and providing a 500% increase in capacity Full scalability of both commsand data storage capacity
Benefits of our solutions You are in control With control of your own IP routing, your IT department can be much more agile in responding to varying levels of customer demand. OptimumIT efficiency Visibility of your network information, control of your IP routing, and the centralisationof many functions, enables your IT department to maximiseits resource and create greater efficiency. Unrivalled security Our data traffic travels across a VLAN which is the same as a private network so the risk of internet security breaches is minimised. Low prices Our network design can dramatically reduce circuit prices by up to 70% compared with traditional leased lines. Optimum performance-the VPLS technology we deploy means we can offer huge increases in network speeds -up to 10Gbps. Ultra-low latency We provide industrial strength resilience with a carrier-class switched infrastructure so we can offer very low latency (67 millisecond round trip from London to New York). Low network down time We can boast 99.999% network uptime, which means as our customer, you suffer minimal disruptions to your operations.