Any Enterprises That have built their own MPLS networks?

I am doing a market assessment for MPLS infrastructure within Enterprises. Most Enterprises seem to be using MPLS VPNs from Carriers. Are there any that may have built their own MPLS network? Any examples in India would help.

Also what challenges, besides cost, do enterprises percieve in going for an in-house MPLS implementation and what are the benefits to be realized ( security, etc..) if they go for it.

1. British Telecom - now known as BT.
2. Cable & Wireless

Links:
http://www.bt.com
If you are looking for alternatives I would recommend investigating DMVPN.

A cheaper alternative that some business may opt for is DM VPN - Dynamic VPN.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1839/products_feature_guide09186a0080110ba1.html

As for MPLS I've not come accross a business that has set this up themselves as there are huge costs involved.

Amit,

MPLS :

Reliance has an MPLS Backbone
Sify Has MPLS over inskin protocols over leased networks
Bharti has ATM / MPLS combinations in Fractions
Cable and Wireless and British Telecom have leased MPLS
VSNL has good inroads in the MPLS implementation roadmaps
BSNL has a Juniper based MPLS network
MTNL has been toying with the idea of the Metro networks using ethernet and MPLS.
PSU's like GAIL, Powergrid, RailTel are working on re-using thier fiber for meaningful services.

Talk to anyone from Cisco, or Juniper and you will have loads and loads of responses.

Mind you , its the way you want to "define" MPLS is critical.

Outsourced services from Carriers and purchase fo MPLS enabled routers is also called MPLS in India !

large enterprises in India are still not big and complex enough to go for a self MPLS implementation. So there are alternates coming up, soon !
Bharti-Airtel in India

The challenges will be clearly that it is getting into a non-core domain

PCCW (BtNA - HongKong Based company) had build a similar MPLS Based Network (www.btnaccess.com)
Sify - India has a MPLS Network within India and shares BtNA network in International Markets. (www.sify.com

I worked in a large enterprise that used mpls on their internal network. It was used as a tool to connect logically separated networks in one remote site or datacenter to similar networks in another. My current employer uses a ton of mpls for similar reasons. mpls is really starting to replace vlans and 802.1q for connecting networks where we want diverse services.

Some of it is just simple layer 2 mpls vpns, in other cases it is full blown layer 3 vpns.

The cost of mpls is minimal on the hardware side. It is good to make sure your support staff has good training on implementation and troubleshooting.

As an example of why an enterprise might use mpls internally, say they have a part of their network that is outside of their firewalls and load balancers and another part where all their servers live, and another part where all the internal users machines are connected. Then they want to connect up another datacenter or remote office. They could have two or three dedicated traditional ipsec vpns between the different networks, or they could just mpls. In this case, mpls will save money.

When an enterprise builds it's own MPLS backbone, it is very important to understand what layer this MPLS is on and if it is a truely meshed MPLS. Many people simoply go with a layer 3 unmeshed MPLS network and experience many problems. A ture MPLS network will be meshed and on the second layer.

By using a Service provider the enterprise can do away with the day-to-day headaches of running their WAN. It provides end to end managebility, therefore in effect it is a total outsourcing of the WAN. Therefore the IT manager can simplify and colsolidate his network design. Redundancy and scalability are inherent features of this technology which can be only leveraged if one is using an SP with a significant infrastructure. It also provides faster procurement, pro-active monitoring and reduced IT staffing costs. None of these can be achieved if one starts to build their own MPLS.

Security is a very broad-based term, and there are no limits to the extent one can go to ensure security, but an MPLS with its routing and addressing seperation does provide a reasonably secure architecture.
I do have examples of enterprises in India running their own MPLS or atleast claim to do so, but I dont see any advantage that they gain. Globally MPLS has picked up like a rage, and any sizeable enterprise shooulod definately evaluate it. Also, the good part it being protocol agnostic, the platform does not demand any change in the existing LAN architecture. In fact we have undertaken MPLS migrations in my company with almost no downtimes!!!!


I have reached out to a few colleagues in Enterprise sales to get better response. However its the International banks & financial institutions who tend to create their own MPLS core network like AMEX or HSBC.

Will keep you posted with better information. Reach out to me on my official id for better response.


MPLS is no more expensive to implement internally than any other kind of backbone. The advantage of MPLS is that it abstracts the routing function from the target IP address. With MPLS, you can forward packets based on almost any identifiable characteristic of a traffic flow.

Service Providers are switching to MPLS because of the services they can provide to the customer. (New services = new revenue.) An enterprise core can provide the same kind of services to business units, locations, etc. within the enterprise.

Links:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6557/products_ios_technology_home.htm...