Bharti Infotel deploys MPLS solution

CIRCUIT EC / New Delhi

BHARTI Infotel has deployed an IP-based Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) backbone network solution to provide services and solutions for its enterprise and corporate customers. The MPLS solution has been provided by Cisco. The deployment of MPLS will help in the provisioning of various revenue-generating services like bandwidth on demand, managed services, intelligent routing of voice, data and other mission-critical traffic, VPN and Internet access.

The MPLS deployment is aligned with Bharti’s strategy to further consolidate its position in the data and broadband market, where it is estimated to have a market share of around 50 percent. The company is expecting more of its corporate and enterprise customers to connect their offices, vendors, partners and customers through the MPLS backbone. The new revenue-generating services to enterprises, corporates and other service providers will be marketed by the data and broadband group of Bharti.

According to Badri Agarwal, president of the company, the challenge for providers like Bharti is to offer services like VPN, bandwidth on demand and managed networks at a reduced total cost of ownership. “To address this we have opted for the MPLS solution. As an end-to-end provider of world-class communication services, we are now uniquely positioned to offer high-speed, carrier-class services to various enterprises in the country.”

Apart from delivering multiple services like VPN and Internet access on the same link, it will also provide a platform for rapid deployment of additional value-added IP services like intranets, extranets, voice, multimedia and network commerce. While allowing the company to offer value-added services, the MPLS-powered network also aims to deliver significant operational and capital cost savings. Some of the key advantages that the MPLS-powered network will offer are point-to-multipoint and multipoint-to-multipoint connectivity using a single link from the customer’s premises to Bharti’s network. It will be able to provide enhanced security to enterprise networks without the need for encryption, and allow traffic management capabilities, centralised monitoring of quality of service parameters like latency, packet drops, and management of VPN membership.

Since the company already has a Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)-based high-capacity fibre backbone, and i2i cable-landing facilities for international bandwidth, the addition of the MPLS backbone will enable it to offer a USP to its customers.

Although the company is not the first provider of MPLS-based services in India (they are already offered by Sify and BSNL), Bharti has a very wide-based network, which is state-of-the-art in terms of services and availability. Also, Bharti offers national long distance, international long distance, satellite services and wireless services under one roof. To top it all, it has an undersea cable link bringing up to 8.4 TB of bandwidth to India through its subsidiary i2i Network in partnership with SingTel.