Bursting on an MPLS or VPLS Network

SASE Secure Access Service Edge

Global Ethernet VPLSA handful of carriers support bursting on their IP-VPN networks.

Bursting can provide a real cost savings benefit to customers. First, it’s a solution for customers who don’t how much bandwidth they need at a given location. Bursting lets these customers add locations to their network at the lowest level of cost commitment.

Second, it is an ideal solution for customers who know that their bandwidth needs may spike much higher than normal due to, for example, seasonal traffic peaks. Bursting lets these customers commit to the least amount of bandwidth they need for continued use and pay for only what they use in excess of that amount.

Here’s an example of how it works:

A customer commits to 100 Mbps of bandwidth at a location. The carrier sets up their IP VPN port to handle bursting. That location can now burst traffic all the way up to 1 Gbps, or whatever their local loop capacity is. For instance, you might pay for a 100M Ethernet local loop, but pay for a committed port of 20M.  This will allow you to burst to the full 100M when the need arises.

The carrier then samples traffic leaving the port throughout the month. At the end of the month, billing is calculated for the:

  • 100M local loop
  • Committed 20 Mbps port rate; plus the,
  • Sustained traffic rate in excess of the committed rate.

The carrier typically discards the top 5% of the traffic samples taken during the month. This eliminates any spurious or unusual traffic from the billing measurement.

If customers find that their sustained traffic is significantly higher than their committed data rate (in this case, 20 Mbps), they can increase their commitment and take advantage of lower prices at higher committed sustained data rates.

If you are considering changes to your Wide Area Network and would like some specialized assistance with the process, please contact us!

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