What Is VPLS and How Will it Benefit My Business?

4 ways in which VPLS can positively impact how yourather than having to go through a number of support
do businessengineers to get the information required. Less
1) Improved agility with VPLS:network down-time means higher corporate efficiency
In the current climate of rapid change andand productivity. Another aspect of our VPLS solutions
advancement, companies which are set up to respondis that they offer 5 levels of Quality of Service (QoS)
the most quickly to market shifts will be the ones thatand allow you to define your own priority levels either
retain a competitive advantage. A Virtual Private LANthrough labeling your traffic or using the service aware
Service (VPLS) solution assists companies to this end.QoS feature on the core network. This is how VPLS
VPLS uses MAC addresses with Layer 2 switchingmaximises efficient network usage according to your
as opposed to Layer 3 MPLS solutions which use IPbusiness needs, so you can rest assured that
addresses and Layer 3 routing.mission-critical data such as CRM, ERP and SCM are
The over-riding advantage of this is that with VPLSallocated enough bandwidth, alongside key services
you are in control of your own IP routing. Therefore,such as video conferencing and telephony, even during
your IT department can be much more agile inpeak usage and without costly over provisioning of
responding to varying levels of customer demand.network capacity.
VPLS networks allow you to conduct rapid3) Lower costs with VPLS
reconfigurations yourselves without having to contactCompanies that use VPLS solutions will find they have
your service provider and wait for the provider to actlower costs for a number of reasons. Firstly, VPLS
upon the request. Even if you do require a serviceenables convergence of services such as VoIP, video
provider change, the typical time to make networketc. so that all traffic can be delivered over a single
changes to Layer 2 VPLS networks is only a fractionEthernet interface, eliminating multiple leased lines and
of that for Layer 3 MPLS networks because theresulting in economies of scale. Secondly, working with
network planning process is much simpler, which couldVPLS uses the same skills sets that LAN specialists
be crucial for some businesses. Another feature whichhave, so you would not need to provide additional
aids agility is the ease of adding new sites. With ourtraining on WAN skills or hire WAN specialists. In
VPLS-enabled NGN, a new site can be added byaddition, VPLS requires a lower cost of CPE as it
simply changing the network router that connects therequires smaller and fewer routers than MPLS
site to the VPLS network. With Layer 3 MPLSsolutions.
solutions, however, it is a much more complex process4) Lower latencies with VPLS
as all of the service provider's routers need to beAs a switched, Layer 2 solution VPLS is zero-hop in
changed which typically takes 10 times as long.the core of the network, so extremely low round-trip
2) Improved efficiency with VPLSlatencies can be achieved. For example sub
Companies with a VPLS-enabled NGN will be more1millisecond within London and 67milliseconds round-trip
smooth-running and thus should be able to provide afrom London to New York. This improves the
better level of service to their customers. This is downproductivity of the workforce as information is
to the fact that with VPLS the company has accessavailable faster. It also saves retail customers using
to its own network information so faults in a VPLSEPOS systems time dialling up to make credit/debit
network can be isolated much faster and the ITcard payments, improving their customers' sales
department can trouble-shoot to fix an urgent crisisexperience.