MPLS Service from iTelNet

ITelNet offers extremely fast and reliable MPLS service for companies that are geographically spread out. We are happy to quote you an exact price to set up an MPLS network for your business, and that price will depend on the size of your offices and other locations.

To speak with an iTelNet executive, call us toll free at 1-800-677-0836 or click here to email us.

Internet Basics – IP, Packets, and More

From the telegraph in the 19th century, to the telephone in the 20th century, and now business cell phone plans and the Internet in the 21st century, communication has been the engine of global commerce, social interaction and cultural information exchange. At its most basic, the internet is the network connecting the world’s computers – the reason it’s called the “information highway.” And just the way different types of vehicles use and share the same roads to get where they are going, there are different protocols, or sets of rules, used to send data over the Internet.
   Internet Protocol, or IP, is the most common system used to transmit data. That data is broken up into small pieces of differing size called packets that include a header, which specifies where the data came from and where it’s going. Each packet is sent individually.

The path taken by the data packets across a network is controlled by routers, which act as check points. Routers look for the most open road at that given moment to the destination point. This means each packet can take a different route from the others. The packets will pass through several checkpoints, or hops. Once the packets all arrive at the intended destination, they are pieced back together.
   The IP system is simple, inexpensive and effective – as long as the network doesn’t get too big. But the larger the network becomes, the more roads available for packets to travel and the more traffic on those roads. Under those conditions, it takes routers more time to choose the optimal directions, thereby slowing down the entire network. 

What is MPLS?

IP provides “best effort” delivery, which means there is no guarantee how fast the packets are transmitted or that each will be delivered error–free.
   Multi–Protocol Label Switching, or MPLS, is a technique that improves the efficiency of IP data delivery by guaranteeing packets from the same data all travel the same route. That results in faster delivery than regular IP routing. This is mostly utilized for large companies that have many network devices, or have many locations. They’re connected together using a more efficient routing system.

How does an MPLS Network Work?

MPLS networks are designed to label each data packet. Traditional IP routers select a path for each packet separately based on the destination information included in the header. In other words, it “sorts” each packet the way a UPS man sorts through a stack of packages to determine which truck it should go into, with each truck servicing several different zip codes that changed daily. But the packages lacked the zip code so the UPS man had to figure it out only by using the street address.

But when a packet enters a network using an MPLS service, a sequence called a label is added to it. The label includes more information that provided by the header, information that will be used to determine its route. Once the label is added, the packet is assigned to a Forward Equivalence Class, or FEC. All the packets in a specific FEC share the same label. Each network router uses a built–in mapping system that tells it how to forward a particular FEC. In other words, the router no longer has to analyze the packet header to “think about” where the packet should go. Imagine how much easier it would be for the UPS man to sort the packages if every truck only delivered to one zip code, which was now clearly written on the package.
   This mapping technique enables an MPLS network to handle different kinds of data more quickly and consistently that traditional IP routing. So, if you have a very large network, utilization is minimized since packets know exactly where to go.

Why is MPLS Important?

The time it takes for data to travel from its point of origin to its destination in a telecom network is called latency. Several decades ago, latency was a big problem when making international telephone calls. It would cause echoing and static–filled connections. Now latency is an issue with data transmission over computer networks. But instead of creating bad sound, it creates transmission delays of data. With the growing reliance on the computer for both business and personal use, how fast data gets to where we want it to go is critical.
   MPLS is versatile and is used to deliver a number of services such as Ethernet or a virtual private network. A VPN is a computer network that exists within a larger network. Think of a large community swimming pool. It’s all shared water but you can create a private lap lane by separating part of the pool using buoys. Likewise, a VPN separates specific data from the larger network. VPNs are most often created to provide employees at remote locations access to a secure company network.
   Before MPLS services were developed, the only way to have that kind of security and reliability was to rent secure computer lines. Leasing lines could be prohibitively expensive, especially if a company had several offices geographically far apart. Similar to conference calling, MPLS service connects people that are geographically spread out.
   In practical terms a VPN is a privately run network using MPLS architecture to piggyback on the Internet or any other public network.