Solution Spotlight: MPLS Network Solution

Customer: Facility Services Company
Location: Pittsburgh Area
 

Highlights

This client had recently added VoIP and videoconferencing to its IT environment, and it became clear that their current network was unable to handle the increase in volume. Network-wide slow-downs in applications became a growing problem. The company needed a partner that could fully manage the complicated process of a network upgrade. MCPc put together an MPLS solution with a new carrier service that delivered the bandwidth necessary to support the new applications and ultimately led to greater operational efficiencies.

Benefits

• The new MPLS solution provides the bandwidth necessary to host videoconferencing and VoIP without slow-downs in applications across the network.
• MCPc owned the critical process of procuring new carrier service, ultimately delivering a solution both more robust and less expensive than with their previous provider.
• With seamless videoconferencing enabled, the client will save on employee travel expenses.

Business Need

A Pittsburgh-area facility services company had added VoIP and videoconferencing to its IT environment that included eight offices located throughout the country and a separate data center. When chronic slow-downs began to choke their network and disrupt business operations, it became clear that a more robust network with greater bandwidth was required to accommodate the new technologies. In short, the company’s overall capabilities needed to rapidly evolve, and they needed a partner with the ability to lead them through the process.

Solution

MCPc had already established a strong partnership with the organization’s Pittsburgh office through eight years of collaboration that included a lifecycle management project, a network infrastructure project, Microsoft license management, and the management of their IBM Passport agreement.

MCPc met with the client’s internal stakeholders and data center management partner, Sunguard, to fully define their technology needs and translate those into a network that could consistently deliver the necessary bandwidth and eliminate slow-downs.

MCPc took this detailed needs profile and represented the facility services company to several carriers that were available in all nine markets where the client had a presence. The MCPc project team then delivered a comprehensive analysis of the potential carriers and ultimately guided the client towards XO Communications — an MCPc industry partner that offered a network solution both more robust and less expensive than their incumbent provider.

MCPc and XO Communications collaborated with the client to tie together its eight national office locations and offsite data center with an enhanced MPLS network that optimized the data flow to accommodate videoconferencing and VoIP without creating slow-downs.

As a company with a small IT staff, this client had previously experienced challenges in monitoring downtime incidents on their network and reacting as necessary. MCPc recommended the integration of a managed network solution that allowed XO Communications to report on outages immediately.

Results

With the MPLS solution, the client’s network is now more agile than ever and has the bandwidth necessary to seamlessly host video conferencing and VoIP without overwhelming their data capacity. And now that their planned shift to more videoconferencing is enabled, the company will likely see reductions in costs and greater overall operational efficiency, as the need for employee travel has been significantly cut.

MCPc’s thorough financial analysis of the available carrier services — along with deep expertise and partnerships in the carrier service market — was critical in producing a result that met the client’s network needs while actually being less expensive than their previous service. Plus, the managed network solution through XO Communications gives the client more effective outage reporting across the network, enabling them to react more efficiently without adding new personnel to their own IT staff.

With the success of the MPLS implementation, the company is already planning future projects with MCPc to continue the evolution of their technology environment.

If bandwidth shortfalls are preventing you from integrating advanced applications into your network, MCPc is available to discuss MPLS or other solutions tailored to your specific needs.