How will AI impression enterprise networks?
That is the massive matter I am tackling with knowledge from TeleGeography’s WAN Price Benchmark—a personalized platform that makes it simple to mannequin and observe your WAN community prices.
That is the second publish on this sequence. Take a look at the primary publish right here to be taught which elements we’re contemplating and the way we’re evaluating numerous situations that mannequin doable AI-driven WAN configurations.
The purpose of the sequence is to match the full value of possession (TCO) of a legacy MPLS community—one which represents many multinationals’ WANs nonetheless in 2025—to varied hybrid or internet-first options designed to accommodate the modifications AI and cloud are bringing to the fashionable enterprise IT group.
Whereas our argument for SD-WAN-enabled hybrids at the beginning of the last decade was largely about value, it’s now far more about getting the community right-sized for the approaching AI-driven bandwidth crunch, resiliency, app-specific coverage and efficiency, and full utilization of cloud.
Your Price range + Your Legacy Community + AI
On this publish we’re wanting on the budgetary impression of creating your legacy community able to handing the AI growth by evaluating two variations of the ‘tiered community’ technique that breaks the community into website sorts. This technique makes it simpler for community groups to vary merchandise and bandwidths and right-size to the wants of that location. For our hypothetical community situations, we broke every of our hypothetical community’s 150 world websites into 4 tiers:
- Information Facilities (DCs) = 7 websites.
- Tier 1, bigger websites that want extra bandwidth and the very best resiliency, usually downtown or in close-in suburbs = 18 websites.
- Tier 2, medium websites which may want much less bandwidth however nonetheless require resiliency = 49 websites.
- Tier 3, the smallest websites with the least bandwidth and fewer want for resiliency = 76 websites.
A particular word for DIA service: More and more, we’re discovering that carriers supply DIA for the port-only value when the shopper constructing is on-net and even near-net, which means there isn’t a further native entry cost. That is commonest in city areas in aggressive well-developed metros, so in these areas, we’ve dropped further entry fees when switching MPLS service to DIA throughout all situations.
Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Our Conservative Tiered Hybrid situation imagines an enterprise that may be early of their AI journey and usually a bit cautious. Their community group needs to make the transfer to SD-WAN and native web breakouts, however has safety or compliance issues, proprietary apps or on-prem knowledge facilities, or only a conservative outlook on IT that retains it from going internet-first. This firm doesn’t but want huge bandwidth will increase, however is seeking to the SD-WAN hybrid as a means to make sure resiliency, enact utility specific-policies, and facilitate cloud utilization with native breakouts. These are the modifications at every tier:
- DCs—Hold twin MPLS.
- Tier 1—Hold twin MPLS, add a single DIA port as a tertiary reference to separate entry traces.
- Tier 2—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry traces the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin DIA ports (active-active) with redundant entry traces the place relevant.
- All tiers—Fundamental Managed SD-WAN for the full encrypted throughput of all underlay companies at every website.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every bar represents the typical whole website bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay companies, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- The ensuing community will increase the typical obtainable bandwidth at every website by about 8%, largely as a result of tertiary hyperlinks added at Tier 1 websites. For essentially the most half, the bandwidth at any given website is much like the unique Twin MPLS.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every part represents the share of whole website bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A majority of the websites fall inside a complete website bandwidth vary of 200 Mbps or beneath, a reasonably cost-conscious quantity of bandwidth.
- The most common websites within the community are between 100 and 200 Mbps throughout all underlay companies.
- Roughly 14% have a complete website bandwidth of greater than GigE.
Now, earlier than we have a look at costs, let’s check out an analogous community arrange from a extra aggressive IT group who’s already feeling the AI bandwidth crunch and is extra prepared so as to add web into the combo to benefit from decrease value per bit.
Tiered Hybrid WAN
The Tiered Hybrid WAN represents an enterprise that is a little more prepared than the conservative situation to push in the direction of web, however not prepared to go away MPLS behind all collectively. They’re additionally prepared to strive broadband, however solely in markets the place they’re sure the ISPs are prepared to supply an enterprise stage of service. Most significantly, they’ve began to make the most of AI and have seen cloud workloads and site visitors improve. They should increase bandwidth with out breaking the financial institution. Whereas they’re holding some MPLS, they’re including DIA at bigger ports as a result of decrease value per bit. These are the modifications at every tier:
- DCs—Twin DIA ports.
- Tier 1—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry traces.
- Tier 2—Twin active-active DIA ports with redundant entry the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin active-active DIA ports in most world markets, however one DIA port and one enterprise broadband connection within the U.S., Western Europe, and some different aggressive ISP markets.
- China is an exception to the principles, as we’ve stored twin MPLS at these websites.
- All tiers—Fundamental Managed SD-WAN for the full encrypted throughput of all underlay companies at every website.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every bar represents the typical whole website bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay companies, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- We elevated the bandwidth obtainable at websites world wide to about the identical diploma because the excessive capability Twin MPLS community, with common bandwidth rising about 62% per website.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every part represents the share of whole website bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A slim majority of websites fall within the greater than GigE to 2,000 Mbps whole website bandwidth vary.
- Solely about one-third of websites have a complete bandwidth of 500 Mbps or much less.
Complete Price of Possession Comparisons
The tiered community situations give us an image of two methods for the fashionable community beginning to accommodate cloud and AI. The Conservative Hybrid situation represents an enterprise that wishes to modernize their community to facilitate cloud with out altering the funds. The Tiered Hybrid situation reveals us an instance of an enterprise that has already felt the AI-bandwidth crunch and needs to spice up speeds with out boosting budgets.
This TCO comparability contains the high-capacity Twin MPLS WAN as an example the budgetary advantages of going hybrid, past the resiliency, utility efficiency, and cloud-first drivers.
Authentic Twin MPLS, Excessive Capability Twin MPLS, Conservative Tiered Hybrid, and Tiered Hybrid WAN State of affairs TCOs
Notice: Every column represents the full annual value of possession for that WAN situation, damaged out by product in every shade part.
- The annual TCO for the Conservative Tiered Hybrid elevated capability over the Twin MPLS barely–8%–however the price went down by about 9% from $8.1m to $7.4m.
- The Tiered Hybrid and Excessive Capability Twin MPLS each elevated the typical bandwidth obtainable per workplace by greater than 60%, nevertheless, the Tiered Hybrid TCO solely rose by 18% going from $8.1m to $9.6.
- Examine the above level to the excessive capability Twin MPLS which went up 43%. That is additionally with holding a inflexible, utility unaware, and centralized breakout legacy community.
It ought to be no shock {that a} hybrid community is a greater value choice at this level, however it’s value absolutely understanding the budgetary steadiness. DIA and particularly broadband are clearly more economical than MPLS, however once more, the enterprise that’s operating headlong into AI must have a sooner and extra versatile community, not only a cheaper one. Multinationals with websites world wide want to grasp how product selection, bandwidth, and geography impression their mission to discover a community that may deal with the longer term calls for of the quickly altering IT group. Subsequent time we’ll check out the enterprise that has gone absolutely into cloud and realized this can assist them lower prices on actual property by foregoing a return to workplace coverage and thus reducing the community footprint.
