mpls or sla-backed affordable backbone: which is right ......mpls or sla-backed affordable backbone...

1MPLS or SLA-backed Affordable Backbone

T h e F u t u r e o f S D -WA N . To d a y.

MPLS or SLA-backed Affordable Backbone: Which is Right for Your Global Network?

MPLS

https://www.catonetworks.com?utm_source=doc



Global Backbones: Why the Internet Isn’t Enough.Stable buildings need solid foundations, and enterprise-grade services are no different. If the

underlying transport is too erratic, no application service can meet the necessary availability and

performance characteristics. All of which is a problem for traditional SD-WAN and global enterprises.

Internet routing is far too unpredictable to serve as the basis of global enterprise backbones. The long

distances and poor Internet peering between Asia Pacific, North America and Europe exacerbate

latency. Infrastructure problems and over-subscription increase packet loss.

China is particularly challenging. Regulations require that Internet traffic leaving China be inspected

by a central firewall (also known as the “Great Firewall of China). As a result, global Internet-based

connectivity from China exhibits even higher packet loss and latency than other countries.

If you’re not going to use the Internet as your basis for a global SD-WAN, what are your options?

The traditional answer, of course, has been MPLS. But several technological improvements are

converging now to offer another choice, what we call SLA-backed Affordable Backbones or SLABs.

Are SLABs right for your organization? Let’s find out

Security Checkpoint

China

Added Internet Latency; MPLS Saturation

ApplianceSprawl

Added WANLatency




As a privately managed backbone with built-in Quality of Service (QoS), MPLS

suffers none of the Internet’s erraticness. Yes, that’s old news, but the strengths

and pains of MPLS bear reiteration when transforming your global network.

MPLS services deliver the predictability the Internet is lacking. Whatever

contention exists for its backbone is managed by the MPLS provider. Packet

loss and latency statistics are more consistent and much lower than those of the

Internet. And to back up that point, MPLS services come with guarantees around

availability (99.99% per year uptime), packet loss (.1% is typical) and latency on

a region-by-region basis. Just as important, MPLS services are mature services

built for the enterprise. Aside from the SLAs, they come with integrated invoicing,

end-to-end delivery, and management.

MB

MPLSThe Case for




High Cost of MPLS Impacts More Than The Budget

But like anything, there’s a price for this kind of dedicated,

managed infrastructure. The dedicated capacity,

maximum latency, and maximum time to repair makes

MPLS services very expensive. Anyone who’s purchased

MPLS bandwidth for the business and Internet DSL for the

home has endured the surreal experience of paying three

times and even ten times more per megabit for MPLS bandwidth.

The cost of MPLS bandwidth impacts more than the bottom line. IT managers must

economize bandwidth spend to meet budgets. As such, branch offices get sized

with just-large-enough connections. These narrow connections are increasingly

incompatible with today’s larger data flows.

With bandwidth at a premium, companies often invest in additional equipment to

extract the most out of MPLS. WAN optimization, for example, becomes particularly

important. The additional equipment obviously increases capital costs but also

complicates management and troubleshooting.

MPLS’s narrow connections are increasingly incompatible with today’s larger data flows.

MPLS

Data Traffic




Internet and Cloud Traffic Exacerbate MPLS’ Problems

The problem is only made more acute as traffic

shifts to the Internet and in the cloud. Providing

remote offices with direct access to the Internet

necessitates securing that connection with a full

stack of advanced security services. To avoid

those costs, many MPLS-based enterprises

centralize Internet access. But centralizing

Internet access requires Internet- and cloud-

bound traffic to be backhauled to the Internet portal. Precious MPLS capacity is

consumed, and Internet and cloud performance may degrade due to the well-

known trombone effect.

Committing to dedicated capacity, maximum latency and maximum time to repair makes MPLS services very expensive.

MPLS

Providing remote offices with direct access to the Internet necessitates

securing that connection with a full stack of advanced security services.

Data Traffic

Centralizing Internet access requires Internet- and cloud-bound traffic to

be backhauled




Limited AgilityLess pronounced, but perhaps equally

important, is the rigidity of MPLS services. New

installations can typically take 30 days to as

much as six months depending on the location

and infrastructure. Since remote offices are sized with limited bandwidth, new

applications or changes in application dynamics can force bandwidth upgrades,

which may also take weeks. And you’re locked into the network coverage of the

particular MPLS provider. Invariably, some offices sit outside the coverage area.

MPLS providers must connect their network with other local or regional MPLS

providers, increasing costs.

In short, MPLS services are out of step with today’s focus on digital

transformation. They an cost as much as 10x more than Internet capacity

and require six up to six months to deploy depending on location and existing

infrastructure. But they’re the necessary evils of enterprises—or so it would

seem. Shifting dynamics always lead to innovations enabling us to replace old

guards with new solutions. MPLS is no exception.

New installations can typically take 30 days to as much as six months.

MPLS




MB

The Case for

SLABs

A combination of industry developments is enabling a new kind of backbone.

We call it the SLA-backed, Affordable Backbone (SLAB). The SLAB is a global,

predictable, and secure network backbone with MPLS-like latency at a much

lower cost. SLABs are enabled by three technology innovations.

Built from IP transit services across global, tier-1 IP carriers to

driving down the price per IP megabit without compromising

availability and performance.

1

Use SD-WAN to aggregate tier-1 carriers to overcome the

limitations of any one network. 2Leverages improvements in software architecture and

commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to deliver high

capacity PoPs easily and affordably.

3




Leverage Affordable, SLA-backed IP Capacity

The first innovation is that it's built from IP transit

services across global, tier-1 IP carriers. Normally,

building out global backbones have required

significant infrastructure investment in purchasing

or leasing capacity across wavelength services and optical equipment, MPLS

switches, IP routing and more. The combination of which increases provider build-

out costs, costs that end up being paid for by customers.

Rather than laying the infrastructure for a global network, SLAB providers lease IP

capacity across existing tier-1 carriers. The IP network build out of the last decade

has created excess capacity, driving down the price per IP megabit. Yet unlike the

Internet, this IP capacity is backed with availability and performance guarantees.

There’s none of the unpredictability and congestion of the public Internet.

None of the unpredictability and congestion of the public Internet.




Build an SD-WAN in the Backbone Core to Compensate for Any Carrier Limitations

No one tier-1 carrier can reach all parts of the

globe and nor can any one tier-1 carrier provide

the predictability of MPLS, which leads to the

second SLAB innovation. Just as enterprises

use SD-WAN to aggregate Internet services

and overcome the limitations of any one service, SLAB providers use SD-WAN to

aggregate tier-1 carriers to overcome the limitations of any one network.

Each SLAB points of presence (PoPs) connects to multiple carriers. The PoPs

form a software-defined overlay across these networks, dynamically routing

packets to the optimum carrier based on the real-time metric, application

requirements, and business policies. As such, the SLAB delivers better

performance, availability, and coverage than any one carrier.

The SLAB implements all core functions in distributed software using COTS

hardware not proprietary appliances.

SLAB delivers better performance, availability, and coverage than any one carrier.

Performance AvailabilityCoverage




Improve Uptime and Reduce Costs with COTS Hardware and Distributed SoftwareHere’s the third innovation. Whereas PoPs were traditionally built from proprietary hardware

and appliances, the SLAB leverages improvements in software architecture and commercial

off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to deliver high capacity PoPs easily and affordably.

Each PoP is built from multiple, redundant computing units without relying on any proprietary

appliances for core PoP functions. What’s more core PoP functions are implemented as

fully distributed software. In the unlikely event that an entire PoP should fail or become

unreachable, the traffic flows seamlessly failover to the closest PoP. There is no direct

bind between a customer location or users and a particular PoP resource. Since there are

no major hardware dependencies, PoPs can be spun up anywhere very quickly. All that’s

needed is COTS hardware (or the virtualized equivalent). Getting PoPs near a customer’s

locations shortens the “last mile” and allows the sophisticated routing and traffic steering of

the SLAB to optimize long-haul traffic.

Locations connect to the nearest SLAB PoP through the general Internet. The Internet’s

impact is minimized by using business-grade Internet services and connecting to PoPs

within 25 milliseconds. Last-mile availability is improved with diversely routed connections.

The result: uptime can far exceed typical Internet connectivity and, with dedicated Internet

access, MPLS local loop resiliency.




MPLS or SLAB?Every major disruption starts with a

displacement of the “tried and true.”

The cloud displaced virtualization, which

disrupted the server industry. Backbones

are no different. With SLABs providing the

same level of consistency and predictability

as MPLS and bringing built-in advanced

security, ubiquitous coverage, and support

for cloud, SaaS, and mobility, why would

anyone pay 10 times more for MPLS?

MPLS SLAB

SLAs

• Availability 99.99% 99.99%

• Packet Loss 0.10% 0.10%

Security

• Encryption

• Advanced Security

Nodes

• Sites

• Private Cloud

• SaaS Applications

• Mobile Users

Global Coverage

Price High Low

Cato Cloud is the first SLA-backed Backbone. The Cato Cloud converges networking and security

into one seamless service. A single set of security and

networking policies govern all sites, SaaS applications,

cloud resources, and mobile users. With the Cato Cloud,

networking and security become simple again.

To learn more about Cato’s SLAB visit our website at

www.CatoNetworks.com

or contact us for a brief demo

CONTACT US



https://www.catonetworks.com/contact-us?utm_source=doc

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