JSE-listed Managed Internet Service Provider (MISP), NetActive, has announced the official launch of its Virtual Private Network (VPN) service for the mid-tier and large corporate markets.
NetActive has successfully completed the deployment of Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) across the edge of the entire Telkom Frame Relay backbone.
The implementation of an MPLS Quality of Service (QoS) layer 3 network will allow NetActive to better utilise and manage its bandwidth, provide more efficient Internet access to its customer base and allow for the evolution of a host of new differentiated products and services based on its customers requirements.
"It is the most sensible network option available," says Jonathan Hackner, Marketing Director at NetActive. "A VPN saves a company money, time and trouble and increases corporate productivity and efficiency." NetActive has designated VPNs as one of its key solution offerings going forward. "By outsourcing all VPN functions to NetActive, mid-tier and large corporations can realise a return on investment in excess of 20% over wide area networks.
"MPLS is an emerging Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard-based on Cisco Systems` proprietary tag switching technology," says Hackner. "By indicating both route and service attributes for a specific IP packet, MPLS represents an innovative approach that utilises label-based forwarding to speed up network traffic flow and simplifies the management of the network.
"By innovatively deploying a layer 3 MPLS network at the edge of Telkom`s Frame Relay backbone, we can now offer our customers the best of both worlds.
"In essence, NetActive offers a fully managed VPN solution with the additional benefit that our customers get the use of the highest speed network backbone in SA. With multiple 155mbps circuits that are at present only about 50% utilised, most customers are getting `burst` speeds far in excess of what they are paying for. To say that our customers are experiencing exceptional performance would be an understatement," says Hackner.
Used primarily by businesses with branch offices or mobile users, NetActive`s VPN solution is designated to integrate tightly into customers` existing networks, providing data encryption, authentication, as well as logging and auditing functions to identify and track potential network problems.
By offering redundancy in the local loop over frame relay circuits, local peering directly into the major peering points, as well as multi-homing between International bandwidth providers, NetActive can offer customers redundancy and service levels in excess of 99.7% uptime.
"For a company with its own network, installing additional lines for redundancy or spare bandwidth is prohibitively expensive. For a managed network service provider it is not, as the costs of redundancy and spare capacity are shared across multiple users of the network," says Hackner.
Workgroup, the leading full-service software distributor in SA, is one of NetActive`s VPN customers. "In the six months that we have been using the VPN solution, our business productivity has improved tremendously," says Andre Swanepoel, IT Manager at Workgroup. "Since installing the solution all our branches have much faster response times. We`re able to provide our clients with much faster service. When Quality of Service is the essence of a business, the only way to go is MPLS over frame relay."
"Clearly, a WAN is going to fall far short by comparison and with the Internet becoming the standard for e-business, there is going to be a point in any company`s evolution at which the transition to a VPN will be essential. At that point, it will be evident that all the financial and infrastructure issues surrounding a network make it far too complex and attention demanding for a company whose core business is not the ownership of networks. Outsourcing the network will be the only option," concludes Hackner.
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