The wide-area Ethernet network connects two Mentorn sites using Exponential-e’s Layer 2 VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Services) technology. The key benefit the solution offers Mentorn is the flexibility to easily relocate or add sites and scale bandwidths among services to suit its business needs without any upheaval.
With heavy bandwidth offices in London and Oxford, Mentorn has a track record of high-profile, BAFTA-winning programming. The organisation now benefits from a fully-meshed VPLS solution which extends the plug-and-play functionality of the LAN across the wide-area via a completely private, Layer 2, virtual cloud. The transparent WAN created across Mentorn’s sites allows devices sat on physically different LANs to communicate with each other as though they are all sat on the same LAN. The highly-sophisticated VPLS solution supports true convergence by delivering multiple services through separate and secure VLANs over one converged pipe. This approach gives rise to significant cost-savings by obviating the need for numerous access circuits.
In the event of any circuit failure, automatic failover will re-establish the inter-site WAN connectivity, making Mentorn’s Ethernet-NGN solution highly resilient with a very high SLA (service level agreement). All Mentorn premises were equipped with Ethernet Demarcation Devices (EDD) to provide last mile visibility- a capability that was first introduced by Exponential-e. As the layer 2 network is switched, rather than routed, Mentorn has direct control, enabling the media organisation to make changes to their own network as and when they want. As the VPLS solution is protocol-agnostic, Mentorn can support all protocols and services, not just those delivered using IP.
As part of the solution, Mentorn is provisioned with PowerServe Internet which is the fastest possible business-grade Internet service. They now benefit from Exponential-e’s unique carrier-class Route 1 technology which dynamically samples the traffic of five tier one transit providers and sends data via the fastest and least packet-loss route available at any given time.
Simon Acott, Sales Director at Exponential-e comments: “With VPLS NGN, Mentorn can easily scale the solution and add new sites as planned. Any new site just needs powering up – there is no need to reconfigure a series of layer 3 routers across the core”. He further adds: “Our layer 2 VPLS solution, with intelligent QoS, supported by stringent pre-sales and industry leading NOC support is what sets us apart from the other service providers.”
Rob Atkinson, IT Manager at Mentorn says: “VPLS for us means simple network design. When we relocated our Oxford site, we could do so with no disruption to our existing network. Most importantly we are in control at all times and unnecessary costs and duplication have been eliminated. Our solution from Exponential-e has delivered quality and performance throughout. Moreover, Exponential-e has kept ahead of our changing business needs and proven to be a reliable service provider in the most testing times.”