ENTERPRISE WANS: NEW BALANCE OF POWER.

COMPUTER network management; WIDE area networks; MPLS standard; COMPUTER network protocols; DIGITAL subscriber lines; INTRANETS (Computer networks); TELEPHONE lines; CUSTOMER services; BROADBAND communication systems; INFORMATION services

The article focuses on the significance of enterprise wide area networks (WAN) and the development of multiprotocol label switching (MPLS). According to sources, the global spread of high-speed digital subscriber lines and all-fiber backbones means Internet performance is good enough for most applications. However, the price-performance gap is considered to be narrowing all the time, although the Internet has always been an inexpensive option, when it comes to private networks. Moreover, providers of today focus on consumer business and may not be updating their private WAN infrastructures. Meanwhile, MPLS has some big advantages for the service provider, because its packets are switched rather than routed. Thus, network managers must allow for bandwidth into and out of the MPLS cloud. INSET: VNOS: SMOOTH NETWORK OPERATORS.