MCI Private IP customers now can set more specific traffic prioritization over their Multi-protocol Label Switching-based VPNs, while also getting a better view into end-to-end performance with new monitoring tools.
MCI has added two classes of service (CoS) to its Private IP service, which brings the number of levels from three to five. Within MCI’s priority data, mission-critical and transactional data classes customers can set additional priority levels for a total of eight levels.
MCI supports prioritization across its network using the IETF’s Differentiated Services specification and class-based weighted fair queuing .
“We don’t expect too many users to take advantage of all eight priority levels,” says Mike Marcellin, senior director of VPN and data marketing at MCI. But the company anticipates more users will become interested in further prioritization within a few years as they add more applications.
Analysts agree that most customers will not opt to use eight priority levels, and only a handful will use all five classes.
“Three classes of service is the bare minimum, and four or five classes is nice. Eight is not all that important to businesses,” says Brian Washburn, a senior analyst at Current Analysis.
Robert Whiteley, an analyst at Forrester Research, agrees but sees some users looking for more detailed capabilities in the future.
“Many enterprises are not yet advanced enough in their MPLS deployments to carve their traffic into four or five different classes,” Whiteley says. “However, many enterprises do see it as a future requirement.”
MCI leads competitors in terms of number of classes, but some analysts don’t see that as a significant differentiator.
“Both Sprint and AT&T offer competitive MPLS-based VPN offerings like MCI’s,” Whiteley says.
AT&T’s service is called Network-based VPN and has four levels of CoS available. Sprint’s service, MPLS VPN, also offers four CoSs.
MCI also is making monitoring tools from Concord Communications available to all of its Private IP customers. In the past, it only offered the tools to Managed Private IP service customers.
MCI is offering four monitoring tool packages ranging from its Basic package with weekly network performance reports, which is available at no additional charge, to near real-time prioritization monitoring with information that’s less than 5 minutes old.
“These tools are often the only portal an enterprise has to determine that the VPN, or other MCI service, is meeting [service-level agreement] requirements,” Whiteley says.
The carrier’s Private IP Standard Select Reporting includes on-demand network trend reports in addition to weekly reports that are included in the basic package. This package is available for $20 per month, per site.
Private IP ETM Reporting includes the Standard Select package plus CoS performance monitoring. This is available for $40 per month, per site.
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MCI’s Private IP ETM Select Reporting includes the above package plus near-real-time performance traffic prioritization reporting. The package also includes a complete customer network status map. The package is available for $55 per month, per site.
“These tools are great stuff,” Washburn says. “It’s a nice, cheap way to get great ‘eye candy’ that some users need to show management what’s going on in the network.”
Washburn says the Concord tools are less expensive than going with a Visual Networks’ set-up where a DSU/CSU is required at every site. But he also says users are limited to only seeing at the SNMP layer. Visual lets users see down to the transmission level.
MCI says it will launch a LAN analysis reporting tool in April based on software from Centrisoft.
