How Do You Evaluate MPLS Providers?

MPLS, Credit Union network

I have worked in financial institutions and technology for my entire career.  Over time, I have seen the transition from Frame Relay and ISDN lines to the current Ethernet, Fiber and MPLS world.  One of the things that my clients regularly ask me is “how should we evaluate MPLS carriers.”  Time and time I have wracked my brain on this one as there really is no clear way to evaluate or compare carriers.  In fact, most MPLS networks, by the very nature of deregulation are not transparent and hence comparable at all.  Depending on the building and locations an MPLS network can be made up of lots of different carriers.  To actually answer this question, I think we need to peel back the onion a bit.

What is MPLS?

MPLS, or Multi-Protocol Layered Switching, is more like flying than networking.  MPLS is a network transport approach independent of specific communication protocols that is used by the router to communicate over existing telecom technologies, basically some wires or strands of glass.  In many ways, you can think of this question as it relates to airlines.  Do you want to fly Southwest, Allegiant, United or the Concord?  All airlines are certified, use jet fuel, have flight operations, etc. but the experience is vastly different.  Sure a regional carrier might be ok if you are just flying for an hour (or there aren’t any other options) but you might not want to fly them for 8 hours.  If you are flying abroad you might want to go in first class for the long flight but you might also be willing to fly coach and stay an extra day.  Ultimately, each component in flying has a similar impact on the experience much like an MPLS carrier.   Flying to LA from DC on Southwest is painful as you can’t fly direct, but flying on United while direct means no-WiFi.  Everything is a trade-off in the MPLS world and with carriers trying to meet a diverse community of needs (Credit Unions vs. hospitals vs. manufacturing) its no wonder it is so tough to compare.

Ultimately, MPLS doesn’t matter when you are going between two locations.  It starts to matter when you are going to multiple locations and it matters more over long-distances and larger pipes.  Essentially, MPLS enables you to share common points in your network and enables all end-points to be able to talk to each other without physically building circuits between all of them.  The traditional design was either hub and spoke which meant that all communication had to come back to a central office. The other option was ring design which meant that there were two paths to everything but the furthest locations were the slowest.  MPLS fixed most of that by enabling direct paths between all of the offices but after that it gets confusing.  Essentially there are probably about twenty-five different variables that will impact your business and are different among all carriers while there are only maybe 3 or 4 common components.

Why is it hard to evaluate carriers MPLS?

There are four main components to an MPLS network.  The end locations are what is known as the last mile.  These are usually owned by many different carriers and blended together to create the network. The backplane is essentially the efficiency of the carrier in getting data through their own network.  The routers, which are the computers sitting on wires that send the data back and forth and finally the management team.  Or essentially, the group of processes and procedures that makes all three work together.   The problem in evaluating an MPLS provider is that providers are only as good as the weakest links.  Meaning, if the last mile is provided by another carrier and outside of their control your experience stinks.  If the backplane is clogged, your experience is lousy.  If they have lousy or misconfigured routers or poor process and procedures you get a lousy experience.

To add to the whole mess, many MPLS solutions are sold by agents.  Agents are independent sales agents who are compensated by convincing you to switch carriers.  Once the contract is signed, they are done and gone and have no financial incentive to stay part of the deal, of course, they can save you money.  Going direct isn’t much better as most big carriers aren’t particularly known for service or for selling small to mid-sized deals it is no wonder that the whole experience is so lousy and nerve-wracking for most clients.

So how can you evaluate MPLS carriers?

Our recommendation is that you create a scoring system based on a subset of the following criteria.   There should be some table stakes that all bidders have to provide, but ultimately you really want someone who is transparent and can swap at components that match your business requirements.  Unless you think every business is identical, your needs will not be the same as the sandwich shop and you may want to look at more than price.

Component

Criteria

Provider A

Provider B

Routers (quality routers with appropriate capacity) Impacts All Locations

25 points * #   locations

15 Points * #   locations

HQ Location Should be Ethernet-based not TDM (scales and grows much   more gracefully)

100 points

0 points

Location 2 TDM vs. Ethernet

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Location 3 TDM vs. Ethernet

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Location 4 TDM vs. Ethernet

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Depends on how much   growth you are seeing

Repeat for more locations
Self-managed IP space Broadcast your own if possible – it makes switching and   blending solutions much easier long-term

50 points

50 points

QOS Capabilities Are you planning on running voice over your MPLS – QOS is   essential

50 Points

25 points

Last Mile transparency Key if a location has problems after you go live.

100 points

25 points

Backplane Route Essential for getting your traffic where it needs to be quickly and efficiently.

250 points

250 points

Backplane Latency Latency is absolutely necessary for high-speed replication

250 points

250 points

WAN Acceleration options It's nice if they have some extra tools ala carte available.

25 points

25 points

Security Options (Firewall, DDoS, IPS/IDS) This probably depends on your industry more than anything.

250 points

250 points

Local LAN Support It depends on your IT Department

50 points

100 points

Monitoring and Awareness Key for knowing when something isn’t working before you…

100 points

100 points

Alerting Key for knowing when something isn’t working before you…

100 points

100 points

Responsiveness It would be nice if you could get someone to help after hours.

250 points

100 points

Internet Blend Not all internet is created equal

100 points

10 points

SIP Trunk Blend Not all voice is created equal

100 points

10 points

Price If your business isn’t telecom than price shouldn’t be your primary decision point.

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Once you have evaluated your carriers for the key business criteria, you might come to a very different conclusion than if you just looked at the price.  The fine print is very important in telecom services and making sure you know what you are buying is essential.

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