DIA and VPN For Europe

Level 3 Communications, a Tier 1 Internet networking services company with a global fiber optic footprint, is bringing its Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services portfolio to European markets, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom. As the worldwide business climate improves, international connectivity will become more and more important for business success in a global marketplace.

Major multinational corporations and larger Internet Service Providers may operate their own Autonomous System (AS) networks that give them the ability to peer with other networks and purchase IP transit services to get to the Internet backbone. But many businesses don’t have or want the level of investment that it takes to operate an International private network. These companies still need high quality, reliable Internet access for e-commerce, communication with their customers, and private connections between far-flung company locations.

Dedicated Internet Access is the service of choice for most business users. What dedicated means is that you have exclusive use of the bandwidth that you purchase to connect to the Internet. But isn’t that always the case? Not really. Residential users and smaller businesses get by with shared bandwidth arrangements such as DSL, Cable broadband, two-way high speed satellite Internet, and 3G or 4G wireless.

The motivation behind bandwidth sharing is that costs are shared as well. The cost of shared bandwidth broadband services is usually well below equivalent speed dedicated bandwidth services. The price you pay is acceptance of not having a guaranteed bandwidth. Indeed, the bandwidth at any given time is a function of how many other users are sharing the service and what they are doing. Just a few people download huge software, database or video files can bring a speedy line to a crawl.

You don’t experience this with Dedicated Internet Access. You have the full T1 line speed of 1.5 Mbps or E1 line speed of 2.0 Mbps available in both upload and download directions at all times. Ethernet access connections are becoming popular as replacements for legacy T1/E1 lines. Ethernet is highly scalable from 1 Mbps on up to 10 Gbps. The lower line speeds can be provisioned over twisted pair copper, while higher speeds require fiber optic connections.

The VPN or Virtual Private Network is a way to take advantage of the universal reach of the Internet while adding a layer of security to protect your data during the time it is traversing the Internet.

Many companies have private point to point connections to securely link multiple business locations within a metropolitan areas or in nearby states. International private lines are also available, but they are pretty expensive for smaller companies to connect with sales offices overseas.

The Virtual Private Network makes it possible for businesses of all sizes to interconnect their domestic or global facilities. Another popular use for VPNs is to provide access to company networks for employees working from home or on the road. Without VPN capability, the organization would have to install a dedicated line between the corporate data center and they employee’s home at considerable cost.

The way a VPN works is that it encrypts the data packets so that they can’t be decoded by anyone who happens to gain access to them along the way. The process is said to create a “tunnel” through the Internet. There a two popular ways to do this. One is IPSec, which requires special client software at each end to perform the encryption and decryption of the data. Another approach is SSL or Secure Socket Layer. This technique requires only a standard Web browser for access. It uses the same encryption employed by ecommerce sites so that visitors can make online purchases securely.

Do you have need for Dedicated Internet Access or Virtual Private Network service to support your business or organization? If so, get prices and availability for DIA and VPN services to meet your requirements.



Note: Physical map of Europe courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Why Choose An MPLS VPN?

How do companies communicate among geographically diverse business sites securely? They use private networks or virtually private networks. MPLS networks are emerging as the virtually private networks of choice. Let’s see why.

The ultimate in performance and security is the totally private network. Private means for your use only. You don’t buy a private network, you build one. Many companies have done this by setting up a star network with a central router at their headquarters location. Each remote location connects to headquarters over a private point to point line, such as a T1, DS3, OC3 or Ethernet private line. It is up to the IT staff to manage this network and make sure all locations have the bandwidth and ability to reach other locations that they need.

What’s wrong with this? Not a thing if you have infinitely deep pockets. The cost of all those private line services mounts up as more locations are added. Don’t forget the staffing cost to keep everything running. You’ll need to buy lines that have enough bandwidth to meet peak loads, meaning that most of the time they’ll be running at a fraction of the maximum capacity. You’ll be paying for that maximum capacity as if you were using in continuously.

The staggering cost of proprietary private networks has encouraged many companies to look for lower cost alternatives that still get the job done. One alluring option is to piggyback on the public Internet, arguably the largest and lowest cost network solution in the world. You could just connect all your sites over the Internet, but that makes management squeamish for good reason. The unregulated Internet is something like the Old West, with stagecoach robbers lurking behind every rock. In this case it’s cyber criminals and curious hackers drooling at the thought of rifling through your corporate files.

Does this mean that using the Internet for wide ranging connectivity is an unacceptable option? No, not at all. The trick to using an unprotected public resource like the Internet is to install your own security. You do this by encrypting your packets so that they are unreadable to anyone who is not authorized. It’s SSL encryption that makes it possible to buy and sell on the Web with confidence. The general term for using encryption to protect data on a public network is tunneling.

So, is tunneling through the Internet to get from site to site the best cost solution? Yes, if cost and/or the ability to connect with the public at large is your highest priority. But what about performance? Ah, I’m afraid the Internet does leave something to be desired in that regard. Bandwidth, latency, jitter, and bit errors are completely uncontrolled. You may not care if all you are doing is serving up Web pages to people on DSL or Cable connections. But trying to optimize productivity when you are running your critical corporate data to corporate offices, factories and warehouses around the world can turn into an exercise in frustration. Oh, you want to establish high quality two-way video and telephone connections on the same network? Good luck with that.

This is where MPLS VPN networks rush in to save the day. An MPLS network is not for the general public. You have to pay more than Internet prices to use it and it only serves its clients. What you get for the extra cost is a privately run high performance network that is carefully engineered to support voice, video and data. There’s no encryption as we think of it on the Internet, but an MPLS network is considered to be a VPN. Why is that?

The answer is in the technology. MPLS stands for Multi-Protocol Label Switching. IP routers are not used to direct packets from place to place. Instead, each packet gets a special label as a wrapper. That label is used to route the packet instead of the IP header information. Labels are added as packets enter the network and removed as they leave. In a sense, the packets are protected by their labels in that they only travel paths set up in advance by the network operator and are unreadable by other clients or external snoops.

Most of the time, MPLS technology and network operators provide enough security that encryption isn’t needed. Even so, if you are particularly sensitive about the privacy of your data you can always encrypt your packets before they enter the network and decrypt them on the other end.

The reason that MPLS VPN networks are replacing proprietary point to point networks is that they offer a significant cost reduction. While you have all the bandwidth you need, any unused resources are available to support other clients of the network. The cost of the entire network is spread over the total user base, which makes the pricing attractive for you.

Are you in need of a multi-location business network or simply want to check pricing to see if you are spending too much now? If so, check MPLS VPN network availability and pricing now. For comparison, you can also get pricing on private point to point lines and IP VPN networks using the Internet.