MPLS Vs Dedicated links

[kapish.mohole]

Hello,

I am designing a network and security solution, I need some analytical information on MPLS and dedicated links, more on the performance and cost side.

We have a typical scenario of network, offices in all major cities in the US and Europe. Existing connectivity is mixed of T1, E1 and VPN links. I want to stream line connectivity in either on dedicated or on MPLS.

What is the significant difference between dedicated links and MPLS in terms of cost and performance? The technical documentation on MPLS is enough for building network architecture, but I need some inputs learned from experiences, statistics examples, like cost to bandwidth ratio of MPLS and dedicated links, and any other major concerns, definite, drawback.

Small locations in the US and Europe those require smaller bandwidth, few mbps (4-10). Few locations in the US and Europe are moderate and require significant BW (10mb or more), 2 DCs 1 in the US and another in Europe require high BW (25Mb or more) between them. And all locations need connectivity between all of them.

So how can dedicated and MPLS work in this situation for better performance and cost...

Thanks for the help...

[ebreniz]

Dedicated intercontinental circuits can be very expensive (in excess of $3000 a month for an E1). So one solution is to get the fastest internet access possible in both sites, then run a VPN on it.

To offer MPLS, a service provider needs to have presence in both countries (unlikely) or an agreement with telco in the other country (almost more unlikely). The reasonable approach is hence to get quotes for fast, business class internet access in both countries, and go from there. Then you can use router as small as 1801 to build your VPN.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Dedicated p-2-p leased lines, are often the most expensive. MPLS, as like other WAN cloud technologies (frame-relay, ATM), usually costs much less. MPLS, again like the other cloud technologies, pricing is also dependent on committed data rates (bandwidth guarantees) and, sometimes, the type of bandwidth (real-time vs. non-real-time).

Besides costs, the advantage of MPLS over dedicated p-2-p least lines is the former usually makes it simple, and even more less expensive, for any site to communicate with any other site. With MPLS you also share the bandwidth to/from a site, which often mean less site bandwidth will provide the same level of performance as more bandwidth of non-shared dedicated p-2-p least lines.

[Arush Bhardwaj]

Good evening friends,

Adding few pts to the discussion -

While MPLS facilitates any to any communication across sites of organizations (Multipoint communication) , leased line is a dedicated and high speed connectivity built across two sites(Point to Point communication). Leased lines do not share the connectivity with any other customer and we get symmetric speed in both directions.

Leased lines is an older technology than MPLS and has been around a bit longer.

Below link enumerates detailed comparison between both the terms -

http://www.ipwithease.com/mpls-vs-leased-line/