MPLS adds lift to Boeing net

For a jumbo corporation such as Boeing, becoming a smaller, leaner organization might seem like a flight of fancy.

But the aerospace giant has made that aspiration a reality, in part by building a converged, multi-service network based on Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology, which lets Boeing employees do more with less. For example, in the past few years, the average profit brought in per worker increased by 67%, the company says. Meanwhile, Boeing's workforce is 17% smaller today than in 2001 and average network usage per employee (measured in megabits per second) has climbed 250% since 2002, according to the company.

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For a jumbo corporation such as Boeing, becoming a smaller, leaner organization might seem like a flight of fancy.

But the aerospace giant has made that aspiration a reality, in part by building a converged, multi-service network based on Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology, which lets Boeing employees do more with less. For example, in the past few years, the average profit brought in per worker increased by 67%, the company says. Meanwhile, Boeing's workforce is 17% smaller today than in 2001 and average network usage per employee (measured in megabits per second) has climbed 250% since 2002, according to the company.

Also: Controlling IOS releases one key to Boeing's success

Boeing's advanced network architecture also makes it easier to collaborate electronically with third-party partners - and the company relies on them now more than ever.

"This is an indication that we have become more of an e-business, and a net-centric company," says Allen Ballinger, manager of distributed network integration at Boeing. "We have fewer people in the company, but they are accomplishing more via our network-enabled environment."

Boeing's network consists of hundreds of LANs, an extranet for linking to partners, and three main data centers in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and Southern California. An OC-48 SONET-based metropolitan-area network also runs across manufacturing facilities in Puget Sound, Wash.

For higher bandwidth and more flexibility in traffic routing, Boeing last year moved to a nationwide ATM service from Sprint, running MPLS VPN links on top of the OC-1 and OC-3 pipes. Boeing previously tied offices together with T-3 frame relay circuits leased through various providers.

MPLS lets the company run IP traffic securely through a public network with the same reliability as a dedicated point-to-point circuit. Because MPLS is a routable protocol, it has the ability to reroute if one path is blocked. Using MPLS in an enterprise-class network is not unheard of, experts say - especially one the size of Boeing's.

"I look at the network now as a ubiquitous services network," says James Farricker, technical fellow and chief engineer of Boeing's IntraNet computing and network operations. The idea is to make any IT service used by an employee "just another layer on top of the common services network."

MPLS ensures that network services such as voice, video and data are delivered with high quality and low latency. MPLS tags traffic with eight priority quality-of-service (QoS) levels, so that time-sensitive packets are routed the quickest, Farricker says. MPLS allows tagged traffic to move more quickly through the network, routing around congestion or downed links.

The network now connects facilities in 48 states and 170 countries, and averages 12 petabytes of voice and data traffic per month. Although expansive in scale, Boeing has reduced its cost per terabit for managing the network by 40% over the last three years.

Farricker cites the consolidation of network services and security at the edge, and stringent management of network equipment as two keys for reducing network operational costs.

"Our connections to the outside world used to be complex, to say the least," he says.

At one time, Boeing had 13 connections to NASA that were managed by several groups. ISP connections also were spread widely throughout various facilities. Each link in or out was a potential security hole and management issue, Farricker adds.

Now the network resembles a medieval walled city, with only three large gateways in and out. These security points of presence hold dozens of high-speed firewalls, VPN concentrators and packet filters from Cisco, Juniper and other vendors. Carrier-grade Cisco 12000 series in the three perimeter POPs anchor the network wall and link the company to its three main ISPs.

Users inside Boeing can get out only through these three POPs. This helps Boeing control what comes in and goes out of the network.

Because the perimeters are linked via MPLS label-switched paths, the network allows for failover to an alternative ISP and WAN link if a provider's connection is down, or if inbound/outbound traffic spikes at one of the POPs.

"This allows us to keep alive a 24-7 network for our partners," Farricker says.

"Making it easier for partners to work with Boeing over the network" is crucial, Farricker says, given the company's collaborative-style of airplane design. For example, only 35% of the next-generation 7E7 airliner design was done inside Boeing; a little less than two-thirds of the aircraft was designed by partners in the U.S. and Japan.

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With this secure wall around the company, and flexible, high-speed pipes within, Boeing's IT group continually adds new services to improve productivity and cut costs.