Why Traditional MPLS is No Longer Planned for Modern Enterprise Networks

But if you’ve been in and around networking as long as I have (since 1993 and a brand new fangled network admin thrown in to the early days of PSTN voice and data mux), you’ll also know about how painful your traditional MPLS setups can become. Thing is these multi-state firms of today can’t really afford to remain in the slow lane of MPLS anymore. It simply does not scale well, it’s mindbogglingly expensive and the agility, quite frankly, isn’t there. Your apps ought to do a better job, your security posture must get better, and your net absolutely should bend like a racecar and not creak like an old diesel truck dragging up a hill.

I’m Sanjay Seth with P J Networks Pvt Ltd, and even after 30+ years on the networking/security side of the industry — handling the 2003 Slammer worm and recently upgrading zero trust architectures with three of India’s top banks — I still find it an interesting thing, what SD-WAN, and particularly, Cisco SD-WAN, powered by Viptela brings to the enterprise network mix. Just returned from DefCon and still feeling the high of the hardware hacking village, and I’m here to say that there’s that same sense of adventure behind our phased SD-WAN migrations.

So, saddle up, get that third cup of coffee (or tea — no judgment), and let’s explore how we implement Viptela powered Cisco SD-WAN and make those MPLS nightmares a thing of the past with our super-agile branch networks.

Traditional MPLS Pain Points

In the old days, MPLS was state of the art. But in a streaming world, it’s more off-key than ever.

• Steep costs: MPLS circuits can be expensive; you pay a premium for hardware, for circuit leases, and for support contracts. That cost balloons when you’re overseeing dozens of branches across states.
• Not very flexible: Need to add a new branch? Plan for MPLS circuits to take weeks before they are up and running.
• Bandwidth : Most MPLS links are shit speed wise. Can’t just dial-up your needs the way you do now with broadband or LTE.
• Complex troubleshooting: Because traditional MPLS is a black box more often than not, outages are more difficult and take longer to diagnose and restore.
• Security pass throughs: MPLS, while it provides some built-in segregation, it’s not zero trust. You’ve just gotta trust the network and that’s a no-no in any threat environment today.

Allow me to make a confession: I once completely disregarded segmented security when it came to MPLS, taking for granted the idea that “the network is secure”. That was an error in judgment which I do not make lightly now.

Cisco SD-WAN Building Blocks

Cisco SD-WAN powered by Viptela is not simply technology for technology’s sake, it is a strategic shift. And here’s how it’s built:

• Overlay networks: Viptela uses different transports (MPLS, broadband, LTE) at the same time. Think of it not unlike having a racing car that can change its tires mid-race without slowing down.
• Overlay network: Establish secure tunnels between branch offices through encrypted VPNs. Your data travels in stealth and safety.
• vSmart Controllers: The master commander, controlling and applying policies in the network.
• vEdge Devices: These will be the gateways at your branch and datacenter, throttling and prioritizing the flow of traffic and ensuring policy is enforced.
• Application-aware routing: Routes traffic over the best path in real time, so critical apps run without stutter.

And here's a tidbit for all those who think AI-powered systems are going to ride in on a horse to save the day—Viptela is based on proven protocols and policy-driven automation. No snake oil. It’s solid engineering, not hype.

Design & PoC with PJ Networks

And getting them to work with multi state businesses is a beast of its own! And when P J Networks tackle an SD-WAN migration, it’s phased – not big bang where everything breaks and IT are always in a sweat.

Here’s how we approach it:

1. Assessment and Planning: We begin by documenting all the branches, where each of them are connected to and what apps are needed and where does it hurt. This is less about a network diagram and more about a way to understand business priorities.
2. Creating the SD-WAN: Multi-transport, segmented policies and a security overlay to meet the requirements not only of today but of the future.
   • Segmentation to zero-trust compass
   • Redundancy as a part of each hop
   • SaaS gain with cloud integration
3. Proof of Concept (PoC): We launch pilot, most often on the 2-3 strategically important branches. This is critical. Why?
   • Verify the latency and failover behaviour in real workloads.
   • Testing app prioritization with day-to-day business apps
   • Work with customer’s SOC team to refine security policies

It wasn’t too long ago that we proofed a large South Indian bank and saw instant improvements in terms of application latencies of 30% and slashed WAN costs by some 40%. Not too shabby.

Cut-Over & Tuning

Cut-over is where the rubber meets the road — and the nerves begin. No company wants to be the subject of the next round of network failure headlines.

Here’s our mantra during migration:

• Phased rollouts: One branch, or a few staggered branches, never all of them at once.
• Fallback prepared: MPLS circuits maintained in live state until SD-WAN proven in place.
• Hybrid mode: Initially share traffic with MPLS and SD-WAN overlay for smooth transition.

And tuning—don’t underestimate this! Application policies and routing tweaks occur all the time, especially as you roll out to additional branches.

On the other hand, some clients wish to prefer file transfer only and do not care at all about voice QoS. That’s an amateur move — the voice starts jittering, you hear it, and management doesn’t yet. Here’s a tip:

• Monitor user experience post-cutover
• Change application-aware routing to suit not the other way around
• Work closely with your Operations team always

We are installers In Your IT pocket At P J Networks we are not just installers we work hand in hand with your IT and security people. Tuning is an ongoing process and not a one shot deal.

SLA & Day-2 Ops

Networks don’t die, I like to say, they only deteriorate when ignored. And, while we are at it, #day2 operations and post-deploy SLA matter most.

Key focus for us:

• Performance and security alerts in real time monitoring dashboards.
• Automatic event correlation in order to minimize the alert fatigue.
• Ongoing policy reviews corresponding to changing business landscape and threats.
• Proactive look at firmware control fix versions on vEdge and controllers.

And yes, I’m a broken record about security. Without having a default zero-trust baked into SD-WAN policies, you effectively just built a high-speed freeway for attackers. PJ Networks says that next-gen firewalls and user-behavior analytics are mandatory for use with SD-WAN.

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Quick Take

• Legacy MPLS is expensive, rigid, and becoming irrelevant in an agile world.
• Cisco SD-WAN with Viptela features multi-transport support, secure overlays and dynamic app routing.
• Staggered migration and the right PoC leads to minimal business disruption.
• Fine tuning of cut-over is essential for improving QoS and application performance.
• Robust SLAs and a day-2 management are a must-have for network health and security.

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Closing thoughts

Running your network like a vintage car, or perhaps a gourmet dish, takes a lot of care, the right ingredients, and sometimes a bit of wrenching to get it just right. Viptela powered Cisco SD-WAN is the turbocharged engine we’ve been waiting for in India’s multi-branch enterprises!

If you’re thinking about making the move, pick a deployment partner that understands security as well as it understands networking. We’re not some shop that only knows by reading firewalls and routers, we bring 100’s of years (depending on who shows up) of battle scars, I mean experience, working directly in the trenches (we told you we’re the good guys) to your board room.

And remember: agility without security is like speed without brakes. And take it from me — you want to come to a stop safely.